Original title: How to Position Yourself in This Agentic Cycle Original author: Defi0xJeff, Crypto Kol Original translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's note: The article introduces 25 years of investment opportunities in AI agents, including investment in DAOs (daosdotworld, Vader AI), on-chain transactions (Gekko Agent, BigTonyXBT), privacy and confidentiality (TEE agents have great potential), developer tools (soleng agent, etc.). In addition, the article predicts new trends in the future such as DeFi agents, NSFW agents, swarm intelligence, etc., emphasizing the practical value behind early layout and flexible response to narratives, which is expected to achieve a hundredfold return.
The following is the original content (for easier reading and understanding, the original content has been reorganized):
In October, Virtuals launched the concept of tokenizing AI agents. It was a bold move, but to be honest, most people didn't care. It was too early. Now? Many of Virtuals' agent tokens have brought 50x, 100x returns, and suddenly everyone is paying attention.
The question is… the 50x to 100x gains you’re seeing now? If you want to get similar outsized returns, you have to get in early. You need to have a strong thesis and the patience to start building before others have figured it out.
If you get in now, you can probably only expect a 5x to 10x return - still good, but nowhere near the 50x to 100x gains that early adopters have made. Hindsight always looks easy, right? It's not too late, but you need to be strategic. An opportunity that was considered "alpha" two months ago is no longer alpha. The ecosystem for virtuals is already very crowded, and the low-hanging fruit has long been picked.
What should we do now?
First, don’t limit yourself to one ecosystem. The contrast between Base and Solana, Virtuals and ai16z doesn’t matter — there are opportunities in both ecosystems. The key is not to “play for one” and attack the other, but to be ready for good opportunities everywhere. Look at me, I’m everywhere — talking about proxies on Base, Solana, and everywhere else. Yes, I’m biased towards Virtuals (I post for them frequently), but I keep an open mind. The key is to stay flexible and look for value, not tribalism.
What should you look for when choosing an agent?
Essentially, the key to a successful proxy is uniqueness and utility. Without utility, a proxy token is like 95% of meme coins - a quick hype cycle followed by irrelevance. A proxy must have a unique product and provide actual value.
It would be even better if the team understood this “attention game”, was able to create a compelling story or lore around the agent, and was able to quickly and continuously release features, actively catering to the needs and requests of the community.
When these elements are aligned, it is possible for an agent to find product-market fit (PMF). Teams that continue to execute and innovate after finding PMF - like aixbt agent - can dominate their niche and become pillars in the ecosystem.
Here are the narrative and practical aspects that CT currently values most:
Agents that provide trading signals and insights are in high demand for obtaining and delivering Alpha. For example: aixbt agent: the gold standard of alpha focused agents. Other alpha agents worth noting:
Investing in DAOs
Hedge fund style DAOs run by human or AI agents, using their treasury funds to invest.
Example:
daosdotworld ecosystem on Base
Vader AI on Virtuals, wai combinator, sekoia virtuals and aixCB Vc
The daosdotfun ecosystem on Solana
Investment DAOs are powerful because they provide:
An endorsement of high quality agents.
Provide a distribution channel for portfolio projects.
Providing early and discounted over-the-counter (OTC) rounds, often resulting in outsized returns.
Want to learn more about investing in DAOs:
On-chain transactions
On-chain trading is a narrative that resonates deeply with the CT community, as we love seeing someone’s struggle to turn $1,000 into $1 million. It’s not just about the money, it’s about the thrill of seeing someone fight and succeed. The first version of the trading agents will tap into this energy. They will focus on portfolio growth, showing off their frameworks and strategies in real time. It’s an early narrative, but it’s already taking shape among some exciting players.
Example:
Gekko Agent: A self-improving trading agent on Virtuals that leverages getaxal’s infrastructure to deliver results.
BigTonyXBT: Based on Cod3x, focusing on autonomous execution of major trades.
ProjectPlutus: With the admirable meme-style codename $PPCOIN, this agent combines real-time analytics and automated DCA execution.
I expect on-chain transaction proxying to become the center of attention in Q1/Q2 2025.
Useful tools for developers
As the ecosystem grows, the need for developer tooling becomes critical.
Example:
soleng agent: monitors pull requests, performs initial reviews, and serves as an AI reviewer for hackathons.
h4ck terminal: A white hat proxy for bug bounties and vulnerability checking.
CertaiK Agent: Focuses on security auditing of agents.
More on the AI Hackathon:
Privacy and confidentiality (TEE)
The Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) pioneered by marvin tong and PhalaNetwork on Solana makes fully autonomous agents possible.
Example:
"ICO that cannot be cut by leeks" agent aipool tee
sporedotfun: TEE agents that have inherited traits and pass them on to offspring.
Neural network experiments such as deepwormxyz.
There are currently no TEE agents on Virtuals, and the first TEE agent will definitely surge in value.
Gameplay Beyond Narrative
Predict future narratives and position them before everyone else and you will be able to achieve 100x+ returns. This strategy is why I entered Virtuals at a less than $30 million market cap.
Emerging Narratives in 2025:
DeFi Proxy
NSFW Proxy
Robotics
data
Gamification of Agents
Swarm/collective intelligence
Infrastructure
I’ve outlined the projects and plays in these narratives in my articles, posts, and tweets. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably seen some of these projects achieve 5x to 20x returns, and this is your chance to build generational wealth. Or you can just sit back over the holidays and watch the opportunity disappear. The choice is yours. I recommend starting with the following articles, which provide a comprehensive review of the AI agent space:
AI Agents in 2024: Looking Back and Ahead (Part 2 of 2)
AI Agents in 2024: Looking Back and Ahead (Part 1 of 2)
「Original link」
