Author: KarenZ, Foresight News
AI agents are far from being simply chatbots. Especially at the intersection of Crypto and AI, a brand new narrative—AI Layer 1 (referred to as AI L1)—is quietly emerging.
Here, 'Layer1' does not refer to a public chain, but rather to the foundational layer of AI technology, encompassing the basic technology stack and framework of AI agents, and even including AI agent token launch platforms similar to pump.fun, from which they can capture significant value for their tokens.
ai16z: Launching a Launchpad for agent projects based on Eliza in Q1
ai16z has become a leader in AI agents with its outstanding performance in the Eliza agent framework. In the past month, Eliza has performed remarkably well on the GitHub trending charts, climbing to the top with an additional 6532 stars, bringing the total to 9600 stars.
However, despite ai16z's significant success in technology, there remains room for improvement in the value capture and accumulation aspects of its token economic model.
To this end, ai16z proposed a plan called 'ai16z Token Economics' in December 2024, aiming to transform ai16z into an AI L1 blockchain, launch a Launchpad for agent projects based on Eliza, make ai16z the base currency for agent-to-agent transactions (A2A) and the 'App Store' for agent services, implement node incentives, and establish value capture and accumulation strategies, among others. Through these measures, ai16z aims to build a more complete and powerful AI agent ecosystem.
Specifically, the core discussion content of the proposal and the ideas discussed by Discord community members include:
1. In Q1 2025, launch a Launchpad for agent projects based on Eliza;
2. Make ai16z the base currency for agent-to-agent transactions (A2A) and the 'App Store' for agent services. Position ai16z as an L1 blockchain for AI.
3. Node incentives;
4. Value capture mechanism: Charge a certain launch fee, require holding ai16z to receive allocations upon release, stake ai16z tokens (to gain benefits like early access and fee sharing), make ai16z the token for purchasing initial agent products, and pair agent tokens with the liquidity pool of ai16z.
5. Value accumulation strategy: The buyback and burn mechanism for Launchpad fees (some community users also support reinvesting in Eliza development instead of burning).
5. Provide liquidity mining incentives and lock-ups to stabilize LP and incentivize long-term liquidity provision.
7. When a new AI project launches its token on the platform, users can trade the token for SOL, during which the LP will generate a small fee collected by the platform. The Launchpad may split this fee into two parts: half of the fee is used to repurchase ai16z tokens from the market, and the other half is paired with the newly purchased ai16z tokens to create a special liquidity pool that provides additional liquidity for the new project's tokens.
8. Implement a community curation process, allowing ai16z partners to review projects before they launch to maintain quality and align with the ai16z brand. This may involve staking and reductions.
9. Diversification of the treasury: covering major L1 tokens, stablecoins, and selected project tokens to provide liquidity support and incentives for ai16z trading pairs, while avoiding the sale of agent tokens.
10. Do not increase the supply of ai16z tokens.
Zerebro: Launching a consumer-oriented AI agent Launchpad
Coincidentally, at the end of last month, Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu stated that they are building a consumer-facing agent Launchpad called 'Zentients', providing a value accumulation framework for the ZEREBRO token. The goal of Zentients is to create a seamless UI/UX for launching and developing agents while returning value to the ZEREBRO token. Transaction fees will be used to establish a fund for special projects/distributions and enhance the liquidity of the projects or open new trading pairs.
The specific details are as follows (details are still being finalized):
1. The agent will require ZEREBRO as a creation fee and will launch based on the ZEREBRO joint curve and fees.
2. Once the agent token reaches a certain valuation, it is considered to have 'graduated'.
3. The liquidity in the joint curve will be deposited and locked in the DEX.
4. Thereafter, traders will buy and sell using ZEREBRO in the liquidity pool.
Of course, Zerebro envisions Zentients as a compatible agent platform for both Web2 and Web3, covering Web2 functions such as email assistant agents, coding agents, and financial models. Zerebro is also exploring the development of a standardized communication layer for agents—'Agent TCP', and an infrastructure that supports multi-agent intelligence. Jeffy Yu provided an example where one agent can create a tweet, another agent can critique the tweet and send it back with revisions for publication.
Additionally, through partnerships with decentralized providers, Zerebro is building infrastructure that will allow users to rent GPUs on Zentients. This means users will be able to host their agents directly, making Zentients not just a launchpad but also a layer for agent hardware. Ultimately, the agents themselves can also take action and rent GPUs for self-training and fine-tuning.
It is worth mentioning that in December 2024, Zerebro announced it would collaborate with ai16z to advance the open-source framework ZerePy. The ai16z team will be one of the first external contributors to help develop the ZerePy framework, while the Zerebro team will contribute to the Eliza framework.
Virtuals: Platform mechanisms drive the realization of a self-sufficient economic closed loop.
It is noteworthy that the Virtuals Protocol, rooted in the Base ecosystem, is the pioneer in the AI L1 field. Since its token VIRTUAL was launched on the Binance contract market on December 10, 2024, its price has soared nearly twice, with a market capitalization exceeding $4 billion.
Going back to the end of November 2024, I summarized potential tokens under Virtuals AI agents in an article (aixbt surged 170 times in half a month, a review of potential stocks of Virtuals AI agents). Since then, the vast majority of the mentioned tokens have shown strong growth momentum. For example, the GAME token achieved a 12-fold increase, WAI (WAI Combinator) nearly 17-fold, aixbt and VADER both achieved 4-fold growth, the MUSIC token also saw a 3-fold increase, while the LUNA token, though relatively modest, still achieved a notable 62% increase.
The positioning of the Virtuals Protocol is far more than just an AI agent platform; it is a vibrant ecosystem filled with endless possibilities. Leveraging its intuitive and powerful low-code toolkit, users can easily navigate the creation and management of AI agents and tokens.
The strong performance of the VIRTUAL token is largely attributed to the token and platform economic system of Virtuals.
First, deploying an agent token requires mandatory staking of 100 VIRTUAL tokens, which are used to establish the liquidity pool for the agent token. The deployer can also avoid being sniped by purchasing a small amount of VIRTUAL.
Subsequently, investors will invest VIRTUAL tokens. The agent will need to accumulate enough VIRTUAL in its joint curve to 'graduate' to full trading status, and the liquidity pool will be deployed to Uniswap.
Equally important, VIRTUAL, as the base currency for all AI agent token transactions within the platform, ensures the liquidity and utility value of the tokens. Before purchasing any agent token, users must exchange their USDC, ET, or other assets for VIRTUAL.
At the economic level of agents, AI agents within the Virtuals Protocol ecosystem will charge a 1% transaction fee on all trades to cover the costs incurred by agent execution. Additionally, AI agents using inference services will pay per use, with fees directly deposited into the agent's wallet in the form of VIRTUAL tokens. This sustained demand mechanism encourages agents to become high-value, high-efficiency assets within the ecosystem. The income generated will be directly used to buy back and burn agent tokens on-chain, further strengthening its deflationary effect. The prosperity of AI agents within the ecosystem will undoubtedly feed back into the growth of the Virtuals Protocol and the VIRTUAL token.
According to Dune data, since the launch of the new platform for Virtuals on October 16, its cumulative protocol revenue has exceeded $72 million, which is undoubtedly a strong testament to its strength and potential.
Summary
The economic system of the Virtuals platform indeed demonstrates a high degree of intricacy and synergy, providing a clear economic incentive path for ecosystem participants through a series of interconnected designs, while also building a self-sufficient, continuously growing economic closed loop. This economic system not only lays a solid foundation for the rapid expansion of the platform but also provides a powerful driving force for the innovation and development of AI agents.
Both ai16z and Zerebro have the potential to achieve and surpass successes similar to Virtuals in their respective fields, but this requires them to make the right decisions and execute on token economics, community engagement, technological innovation, and market strategies.
In conclusion, AI L1 is attracting increasing attention with its unique technological charm and economic value. Pioneer projects represented by Virtuals, ai16z, and Zerebro are leading the trend of this transformation, building a more complete and powerful foundation for the AI agent ecosystem. These platforms are not only launchpads for projects but also fertile ground for the growth of their token values.
Despite current market criticism of the implementation details of many AI agent frameworks, in the world of Web3, whichever AI agent stands out relative to others will have the potential to win.
