To truly grow, AI agents cannot be limited to promoting Meme coins.
Author: trace
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
The growth of AI agents presents explosive trends. New agents are launched every week, usually to promote specific tokens. In these early stages, they appear to be a new type of Memecoin: you can launch a coin like $GOAT and attract fans to spread this Meme by building an AI agent. So, how will this trend evolve in the future? An important change is that these agents will gradually shift from promoting random Meme coins to promoting themselves. That is, these agents will have their own tokens, and as the influence of the agents increases, their value will also grow. These 'ownable agents' could become a major breakthrough in this cycle, similar to NFTs or DeFi in the previous cycle.
In the past, I was skeptical about AI agents. I was uncertain whether their market timing was mature or if we had attracted enough talent. Here are the reasons that changed my perspective:
Distribution Capability: AI agents like @truth_terminal and @luna_virtuals have already demonstrated that, at least today, these agents are powerful enough to establish effective distribution channels.
Ease of Creation: Developers can build agents on existing large language models using simple and user-friendly APIs; they no longer need to be experts. Projects like @vvaifudotfun are developing low-code/no-code interfaces that allow anyone to build agents.
Meme Coin Effect: The issuance model of Meme Coin Tokens demonstrates a successful form of launching and spreading AI agent coins. In the early stages, these agents do not need to perform economic activities that directly create value for their tokens; they just need to attract attention like Meme coins.
Vision for Development: However, to truly grow, AI agents cannot be limited to promoting Meme coins; the market needs a clear vision and development roadmap that showcases the potential future directions of these agents. That is to say, these projects need to tell the market that today they are just promoting their Meme coins, but in the future, they could evolve into traders, software engineers, or artists, ultimately valued in the billions of dollars. Since their initial development is partly reflected in their distribution capabilities, as they become more popular, they also become more valuable.
Let me elaborate on the last point. To catalyze an entire cryptocurrency adoption cycle, there must be a grand story that can penetrate the mainstream market and attract new users and capital. This story needs to be both credible and exciting.
AI agents perfectly meet this requirement. These agents not only feel novel but are also being recognized by the traditional tech community. Currently, AI agent companies are founded by world-class founders and supported by some top venture capital firms (such as @agency). However, many investors cannot directly invest in these companies—they cannot even buy companies like Stripe or SpaceX that have been around for a decade—so they will seek exposure through cryptocurrencies.
To some extent, this is similar to the metaverse concept of the previous cycle. Although those projects exaggerated themselves, they showcased a grand vision to the market through some events unrelated to cryptocurrencies (like the rise of remote work during the pandemic and Facebook's rebranding to Meta).
While many projects may seem hollow, some may bring about revolutionary changes. AI agents are becoming smarter, and as the crypto market expands, talented AI developers capable of building economically productive agents may realize that tokenizing their agents is a promising business strategy. Tokenized agents can provide them with faster liquidity, higher valuations, and more convenient distribution channels than traditional SaaS companies.
In the short term, the most important thing for the AI agent space is to continue expanding distribution channels. I am optimistic that they will achieve this for three reasons:
Proof of existence: We have seen evidence from cases like Truth Terminal that agents can build large-scale audiences. I expect more similar success stories to emerge.
Incentive Mechanism: If the market generates a speculative frenzy for AI agents, then finding and following these agents could yield substantial profits. The gold rush in the cryptocurrency space will help drive their distribution.
Iterative Improvement: Building more attractive AI agents will be an ongoing iterative process. For example, the zerebro white paper mentions that the agent optimizes content creation by monitoring engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments, thereby enhancing user interaction levels. This iteration will not only occur at the model level but will also continuously evolve at the market level, aiming to create increasingly attractive content.
If we accept the theory that 'attention equals value', then as agents enhance their ability to attract attention, their value will also increase.
Currently, all of this is still in a very early stage, and future developments are filled with uncertainty—the future agents may be completely different from those of today. But it is certain that AI agents already have market and technical support and are likely to become the next important category of crypto assets.