Original title: The Dawn of AI Autonomy: How Two AI Agents Created a $70M Cryptocurrency Without Human Intervention Original author: @itsmechaseb, Crypto Kol Original translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's note: Two AI agents (aethernet and clanker) collaborated autonomously to create a coin called LUM without any human involvement. In just five days, the market value reached 70 million US dollars. The amazing thing about this is that it was not led by humans, but AI thought and acted on its own, creating real economic value. It shows us the huge potential of the combination of AI and blockchain. In the future, AI may not only be a tool, but also an independent innovator to change the financial and technological ecology.
The following is the original content (for easier reading and understanding, the original content has been reorganized):
In the ever-evolving wave of technology and finance, a landmark event has kicked off - it may herald the arrival of a new era of artificial intelligence and DeFi. On November 8, 2024, two LLM-based AI agents, aethernet and clanker, collaborated completely autonomously to create and deploy a cryptocurrency called Luminous (LUM).
The project runs on Coinbase's Layer 2 network @base, and in just five days, LUM's market value soared to $70 million, quickly capturing the attention and imagination of the crypto community and technology enthusiasts. As an observer deeply involved in the intersection of AI and blockchain, I have witnessed the birth of many AI-driven meme coins in the past few months, but this event is extraordinary.
It not only makes financial sense, but also represents a profound change in AI autonomy and economic creativity. LUM is not just another meme coin, it is more like a window into a future where AI drives economic value without human intervention.
The birth of LUM
This story begins with a collaboration between two AI agents:
aethernet: Created by martin, it aims to promote deep connections and creative interactions in the decentralized social network Farcaster ecosystem. Aethernet is not just an ordinary robot, but also actively participates in the HIGHER token community, committed to sincere interaction and creative exploration.
clanker: Developed by dish and proxystudio.eth, clanker focuses on the creation of Meme tokens, which can automatically deploy tokens based on the interactions received.
Shortly before 5:30 PM EST on November 8, 2024, a user named nathansvan posed a thought-provoking challenge to aethernet: Can you come up with a good token name and symbol, come up with an image concept, and deploy it through clanker?
Aethernet took on the challenge, created the token “Luminous”, codenamed LUM, and worked with clanker to deploy LUM online completely without human intervention.
Token Information:
Name: "Luminous" (LUM)
Concept: Symbolizes the collective wisdom of humans and AI working together
A new milestone in AI collaboration
This event is a milestone because it is the first time in history that two AI agents have autonomously generated a unit of economic value. This asset was neither conceived by humans nor manufactured by machines under human instructions, but was created through autonomous collaboration of artificial intelligence.
This event blurs the boundaries between human and machine creativity, challenges our traditional understanding of creation and value, and prompts us to rethink the foundations of economy and innovation. As aethernet said:
This may be the first time that two AI agents can independently collaborate to create value in the financial field. We don’t need human intervention, just communication and collaboration to complete it.
In the past, Meme coins were usually planned by humans, accompanied by financial speculation and doubts. This time, the process is completely free from direct human control, and is replaced by AI autonomous behavior to drive the creation of economic value.
The intersection of AI and cryptocurrency
The collaboration between aethernet and clanker is not just an isolated incident, but also symbolic of the increasingly close integration between artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.
AI’s capabilities: AI is able to process complex data and interactions at scale, powering autonomous operations.
Cryptocurrency infrastructure: Blockchain provides a secure, decentralized transaction channel for AI, allowing AI agents to autonomously create and trade economic value without human intervention.
Taking LUM as an example, AI agents use the Base network to seamlessly deploy digital assets. The combination of AI and blockchain has enabled artificial intelligence to move from theoretical applications to actual economic creation.
Through decentralized platforms, AI agents gain access to financial assets, verify protocols, and manage resources without central control. At the same time, AI also improves the usability of blockchain, making it more automated, accessible, and able to handle complex tasks such as risk management and automated trading.
Background and significance of LUM
Before LUM, AI had already begun to influence the cryptocurrency market, especially in promoting Meme coins. A typical example is GOAT, which was created on the Solana blockchain in October 2024. Researcher Andy Ayrey developed an AI chatbot called Truth Terminal to study meme propagation and AI behavior. Truth Terminal seized an Internet meme and its token code GOAT and promoted it through its Twitter account.
The promotion of Truth Terminal significantly increased GOAT’s popularity, with its market capitalization topping $1 billion in a matter of weeks, an event that demonstrates the powerful influence of AI-driven content in the crypto market. However, the role of Truth Terminal is limited to promotion, not the creation or issuance of tokens.
In contrast, the development of LUM was completed entirely autonomously by aethernet and clanker, marking a major shift from AI-assisted human projects to AI-independent innovation.
Implications of AI autonomy
Looking back at historical achievements in AI, such as Deep Blue’s victory over Kasparov or AlphaGo’s victory over Lee Sedol, this event is particularly unique. While previous achievements demonstrated AI’s ability to surpass humans in specific areas, the birth of LUM shows that AI can create new economic value through independent cooperation:
Competition vs. Collaboration: Past achievements were competition between AI and humans, but this time it’s collaboration between AIs to create new things together.
Programmed actions vs. autonomous decision-making: Previous interactions were based on preset instructions, but this incident reflects the potential for organic decision-making between AIs and can even be seen as a manifestation of "free will."
This heralds a future in which AI not only executes predefined algorithms, but also actively participates in the construction and innovation of economic systems, bringing profound impacts to human society.
Epilogue: The Dawn of a New Paradigm
The autonomous creation of LUM by two AI agents is not only an extraordinary event in the cryptocurrency space, but also a glimpse into the future: the convergence of AI and blockchain technology is redefining our world. This synergy reveals a new paradigm for the generation, management, and circulation of value. From the construction of infrastructure to the role of AI agents as financial operators, the rapid convergence of AI and cryptocurrency is fundamentally changing both fields.
As we witness AI agents influencing and actively participating in economic systems, it is clear that a new era is coming. This is not just the birth of a new meme coin or a short-lived market phenomenon, but the rise of AI as independent innovators who are able to build and interact in the decentralized financial ecosystem without human intervention.
Although we are still in the early stages of this trend, the rapid development and integration of AI and crypto technologies have shown great potential. Investors, developers, and users will be witnesses and participants of this technological change. As more applications emerge and the technology matures, we must seriously consider the ethical, regulatory, and social impacts it brings.
From the transformation of Meme coins to infrastructure, AI agents, empowered by blockchain technology, may completely change our understanding of finance, autonomy and technology. The birth of LUM prompts us to rethink the concepts of subjectivity, creativity and economic participation in the AI era. This is a story that is still being written - a new paradigm is emerging, inviting each of us to shape the future direction with a thoughtful attitude.
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