Article reprinted from: On-chain Observation
Why am I so certain that AI Agents will bring about an industry growth level equivalent to DeFi Summer? Please believe that this judgment has nothing to do with the conspiratorial groups behind pure on-chain PVP or the narrative of pure VC coins. It is simply because at a certain critical point, macro factors, technology, the market, the community, and the ecosystem will trigger a chemical reaction, resulting in a trend-setting force breaking through the encirclement. Why?
In line with the previous article, I will refine and simplify several viewpoints to share with my friends:
1) AI Agents are not a randomly born new narrative; they are backed by a whole package of AI Narratives including AI MEME, AI DePIN, AI Platform, AI Rollup, etc. This is simply because the foundational infrastructure like AI DePIN has a longer delivery cycle, making AI Agents easier to implement with stronger community participation, which is why they have exploded onto the scene faster. The entire AI ecosystem is a treasure for Crypto.
2) AI MEME is certainly important, but don't isolate it as a Super Cycle narrative because pure financial nihilism cannot support the trillion-dollar market value of the Crypto industry. MEME is merely a narrative catalyst, a viral marketing method, a low-threshold onboarding channel for users, and a leading force in the 'wealth effect' cultural output of the crypto space. Both the depersonalization of the industry and the pure MEMEism are incorrect.
3) AI Agents will be the 'hard currency' running on 'chains, wallets, DApps, DEXs, CEXs' in the future. Currently, what runs on these basic infrastructures are all Tokens, and the prerequisite for the effective circulation of these Tokens is 'smart contracts'. AI Agent = Token = Smart Contract. If you only see it as a reason to issue Tokens, you are gravely mistaken. In the future, chains, wallets, DEXs, and other infrastructures will fully adapt to and support 'AI Agents'. Infrastructures that cannot do so will not necessarily be completely eliminated, but they will at least miss out on this brand new paradigm upgrade from 'protocol to end' in the industry.
4) The threshold for AI Agents is not low. Don't think that integrating a framework, making RPC calls from the Client, plugging in LLM, and fine-tuning a few features is all there is to AI Agents (a beginner-level AI Agent is relatively easy to create).
But solving issues like memory storage calls for AI Agents (DA), building a decentralized asset custody solution for AI Agents (AI + TEE), defining a verifiable inference validation communication standard for AI Agents (interoperability), defining a Solver intent execution network based on chain abstraction for AI Agents, constructing a set of safety risk control, dynamic scheduling, and adaptive adjustment standards for AI Agents (Deep learning), etc.
To run AI Agents effectively, the currently criticized overly homogeneous infrastructure must at least iterate once again. How can we ignore such incremental opportunities? 5) In the Internet era, victory comes from protocols, while in the mobile Internet, victory comes from user experience at the endpoints. In the past, blockchain continuously combined complexity around 'fat protocols' and stacked business logic; in the future, AI Agents will evolve around the logic of 'lean applications'. Therefore, enhancing AI infrastructure for LLM and multimodal AI training (computing power, data, inference, etc.) + simplifying cross-chain interaction experiences through 'chain abstraction' + enhancing asset management interactions through 'intent trading' + promoting lightweight infrastructure and trusted interactions through 'zkVM', and other narratives will gradually become the backend or upstream narrative technologies supporting AI Agents.
6) AI Agents represent a feasible narrative that lies between DeFi and the Metaverse. Compared to DeFi, they encompass a broader range of business logic scenarios, and compared to the Metaverse, they have tangible applications. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the 'bubble' that AI Agents may bring in the short term. Any major paradigm shift will have bubbles in its early stages; to not fear FOMO is to become one of the lucky ones at the forefront of trends.
7) In the early stages of AI Agent development, do not rush to pursue standalone AI active MEME. An innovative force around the underlying architecture specifications for AI Agents, cross-chain communication protocols, transaction execution standards, user interaction paradigms, etc., is quietly emerging, and many opportunities will be born. Do not get lost in the FOMO emotions of repeating MEME and standalone AI gimmicks. Lock in on expected growth in the sector, choose value targets with sustained growth and key ecological positions in the industry, and do not falter on the eve of the sector's dividend explosion. That's all. A friend gave the article below the evaluation of 'most valuable', which made me, who usually only talks about technical popularization and rarely shares 'secrets', feel genuinely gratified. The highest form of 'call' is not necessarily sharing a specific Ticker but understanding the underlying operational logic of the industry, becoming a flag bearer for the industry, letting the wind blow, and allowing everyone to enjoy the industry's growth dividends.