Original title: (Solana AI Hackathon and Token Launches — Note to Builders and Investors)
Author: SendAI head Yash Agarwal
Compiled by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
Editor's note: The Solana AI Hackathon hosted by SendAI has been underway for some time, but due to the continued heating of AI narratives, the community's enthusiasm for related projects shows no signs of diminishing.
On-chain analysis research firm Pine Analytics reported yesterday that the number of tokens created or directly associated with the projects from this hackathon has reached 65, with a total market value of $482 million, an average market value of $7.5 million, and a median market value of $1.7 million; 13 tokens have a market value exceeding $10 million, and 42 tokens have a market value exceeding $1 million.
However, in the midst of such high community sentiment, SendAI founder Yash Agarwal today published a lengthy article criticizing the current hype. Yash emphasized that the hackathon homepage had only 40,000 visits in the past week, but any random token could quickly attain a market value of $50 million... SendAI initially intended to build a platform to boost the development of Solana's AI ecosystem, but has now turned into a 'casino for the fallen.' In Yash's view, the current bubble will cause developers to become shortsighted and focused on the short term, which is detrimental to the long-term development of Solana AI; thus, it is necessary to point out some absurd conditions, or soon the industry will see a 'major disaster.'
Here is the full text from Yash, translated by Odaily Planet Daily.
When we launched this hackathon, I had a simple vision — to make Solana the AI blockchain and achieve tenfold growth.
I believe that hackathons are the best viable way to achieve this goal; we can gather everyone under one roof, and I can personally invest in those very promising Crypto x AI Agent projects.
In the past month, I can say that the Solana AI hackathon has not only established a brand but has also completely changed the landscape of the Solana ecosystem's AI Agents. Completing over 400 projects in 15 days is no small feat, and my team and I are incredibly proud of our contribution to adding $500 million to $1 billion in market value to the Solana AI ecosystem.
Of course, when we launched this hackathon, we had a premonition that due to this strange Crypto x AI Agent model, there would be some related token issuances. If developers are using tokens as a means of capital accumulation with the goal of building excellent products, then that is perfectly fine. We have also carefully designed all 8 tracks (sponsors have no say in this) to encourage truly useful AI Agents.
But we did not expect it to turn into a 'casino for the fallen.' To give everyone a clearer idea of the numbers, the project homepage of the Solana AI hackathon had only over 40,000 visitors in the past week, but now every day, 2 to 3 hackathon-related tokens can quickly reach a market value of $50 million, and the total value of all related tokens has exceeded $500 million. Unintentionally, the Solana AI hackathon has become a discovery platform for AI tokens.
Speculation-driven
The current situation is basically as follows:
(Project Parties) submit projects in the hackathon and appear in the Solana AI hackathon project directory;
Leverage Solana AI hackathon/SendAI to gain credibility;
Release token → Attract attacks/promotions from whales and KOLs → Bang! Immediately complete a token issuance of $5 million to $50 million;
In the eyes of gamblers, through early ape-in operations, they can obtain potential 100 times returns in hackathon-related projects, making the hackathon a perfect investment venue.
This is no fresh story; it is typical power-law distribution-driven speculation.
While I am happy to see some developers launch tokens to achieve necessary early capital accumulation, the problem is that the current bubble is too large.
Although this is closer to a fair issuance (similar to an ICO), I do not believe this is the best direction for us to move forward.
Developers are becoming blind
This bubble-like pace of token issuance is making developers shortsighted and blind.
Currently, 90% of the Crypto x AI projects are no different from the cat/dog concept meme tokens; of course, if they are aware of this, that's perfectly fine... However, many projects will tout their tokens as 'utility tokens,' which is actually a bigger scam.
The current pace is disadvantageous for true developers (especially the weaker ones) in the long term, as they now have to consider short-term issues.
Most Agent/Infra projects have realized that issuing tokens is the best way to gain attention: Token issuance → Agent/Framework 'viral' spread (but users are 0) → Token pump → Everyone is happy...
Many projects simply released some announcements or demonstrations (even though they already have a market value of over $200 million) to please token holders, thus achieving a quick pump (stimulating the dopamine of holders), after which whales and conspirators began to promote 'amazing technology' to sell to retail gamblers.
Many developers know that their products cannot be promoted or operated in production, so they can only keep demonstrating or making some "X x Y" announcements. Please name some real-time, scalable, truly on-chain Agent products; I will be waiting in the comments section.
Conspirators/whales/KOLs are the worse VCs; they have no reputational burden.
Conspirators and whales are making this game dirtier and dirtier.
They attack early supplies by fabricating lies (saying they are 'supported by xxx,' but in reality, they just retweeted or casually praised it) or persuading developers to allocate a certain share; they also incite people in their gambling groups and then continuously sell (or will eventually sell), damaging the interests of retail investors and developers.
Remember, their tokens have no lock-up restrictions, as most tokens are issued through pump.fun.
Some advice for developers
Please do not issue tokens just for the sake of issuing them, especially if you do not hold a significant proportion of tokens. Believe me, if your token holdings are less than 5%, once the price starts to drop, you will have no motivation to continue building.
Yes, the token may soar in the short term, and you will experience a quick dopamine rush from issuing tokens worth $50 million or $100 million, but once the price corrects, you will lose the motivation to continue building. There will also be a group of terrible 'shareholders' who hope you will continue to develop because they have heard a lot of hype about 'how amazing this project is' from conspirators/KOLs.
Always remember that tokens are technically an asset, but emotionally they can also be a huge burden. Issuing a token is very easy; I have managed a token in the past 6 months and experienced all these low moments. I can tell you that managing a token is not fun. The token itself is a large product that needs to be managed.
When prices drop, those communities, KOLs, or conspiracy groups won't be of any help; you can only fight alone. At best, they will only mock or criticize.
There is nothing wrong with issuing tokens to accumulate startup funds, but if you are not prepared, do not rush to catch the current trend.
Look further ahead and ask yourself: 'Even if the token's market value is below $500,000, are you willing to continue building this project for the next 6 months?' If the answer is yes, then go ahead and launch your token. If necessary, you should reserve appropriate funds and team shares at the time of issuance — as a project developer, you have every right to accumulate wealth in the long term through your baby (project).
For those hackathon developers who have already launched tokens, if they lack foresight, then I wish them happiness in managing tokens; let’s talk again in 6 months.
I won't name anyone for now, but I can give a good example. My little brother Umang created Cleopetra in this hackathon, which is an AI Agent aimed at improving the DEX LP experience. They have no plans to launch a token yet, but are harassed daily by fake coins and gamblers, with the community urging them to announce their CA every day. Of course, he is strong and hasn’t launched a token yet. I will personally help him after the hackathon ends.
If you are a shortsighted and weak developer who launched a token because you couldn't resist the casino-like temptation, to be honest, as a developer, I do not respect you; you are a scammer. No matter whether your token is valued at $100 million or $500 million, I will criticize you when the time comes.
How to respond if you haven't launched a token yet?
Hang in there! Also, label your projects on X as 'no token,' and never hint at issuing tokens. Keep building and developing. For those false token issuance activities, you are truly powerless; fighting against them is useless. If someone is still 'aping in' like a monkey without doing any research, they deserve it. Just ignore them or block them directly.
To KOLs and gamblers
For Crypto x AI KOLs, we are all friends, but I hope you can be responsible for what you promote (especially tokens). Guide developers well and do not be deceived by quick token distributions or influence. You also don't want to be seen as a scammer when prices drop.
As for gamblers, or simply put, all of us, do not buy things you do not understand or do not want to understand just because your favorite KOL is shouting about them. Chasing short-term gains ultimately means you'll pay the price.
About the results of the hackathon
Many respected figures in the industry have made requests to me, such as launching token lists or popular choices, revealing the end date of the hackathon, or even disclosing the results of the hackathon.
I have received at least over 50 private messages, some even offering bribes/token distribution schemes.
Sorry, we will not disclose the exact end date and final results to anyone (including the list of judges, each judge has a separate form, and we will organize all of this) before the official announcement.
Blood, sweat, and tears
When we decided to launch this hackathon, we had no funding or support; everything was supported by blood, sweat, and tears, along with our intrinsic passion for making Solana AI grow tenfold. SendAI was established as an umbrella organization after the Solana AI hackathon. We placed this bet, and the results were excellent.
At this point, we hope to take our professional ethics seriously and strive for the best honesty in thought. We really don't care who you are.
To reduce speculation, we have also made a difficult decision — to cancel the demo day and instead have the results of the hackathon announced directly by Solana or SendAI officials. Developers do not need to worry; we will have activities that are more exciting than the demo day afterward.
What’s next?
Honestly, I still don’t know what the best solution for the token issuance problem is in terms of capital structure. But I hope we can come up with something, and I will personally think about this in my spare time. Given that this is a recent issue (less than 1 month), we are still in the early stages and still have the opportunity to solve this problem.
In short, I have great confidence in Crypto x AI Agent proxies; this is definitely an industry worth over $100 billion.
SendAI, Solana AI hackathon, Solana Agent Toolkit, all of these are completely spontaneous public products and have been delivered in the past month. The market is not yet ready for our upcoming plans.
Although my brain tells me to wait for the results to come out before publishing this article, I followed my heart and published it now. From an industry perspective, we need to point out some absurdities, or we will soon witness a major disaster.
Remember, the casino always exists, and the house always wins.
These views are entirely my personal opinions and do not represent anyone else. Thank you for listening to my long discourse; I will definitely write about my optimism for Crypto x AI Agents another day, but there will be no token recommendations.
