Author: Zhou Zhou, Foresight News

In the past month, AI Agents have sparked a new wave in the crypto industry.

In less than a month, the market value of the entire AI Agent track project once reached ten billion dollars. Among them, Virtuals had a market value of 3 billion dollars, while ai16z and Fartcoin had market values of 1 billion dollars. According to incomplete statistics from Foresight News, there are at least 14 cryptocurrencies related to AI Agents that have exceeded 100 million dollars in market value.

Many Web3 practitioners have stated that AI Agents may be one of the biggest narratives in this cycle, much like the emergence of DeFi, NFTs, and the Metaverse in the previous cycles. So, when a brand new crypto narrative is born in its early stages, how can we find the leading crypto projects related to AI Agents through a good methodology? The author attempts to list ten methods for the readers.

One: On-chain Revenue Method

This method is more suitable for assessing platform-type AI Agents, such as Clanker, vvaifu.fun, and Virtuals. If daily on-chain revenue and transaction counts show abnormal changes, such as sustained high growth over several days, it may indicate that this AI Agent could have good development. Conversely, it might mean that development has stagnated.

Image source: Dune

For instance, Clanker, a star project of the AI Agent within the Base ecosystem, shows that after November 26th, both the number of tokens issued, the number of traders, and on-chain revenue began to decline, and this trend was immediately reflected in the token price.

Two: Developer Attention Method

A high number of stars on GitHub may indicate more developers are paying attention to and recognizing this framework. This method is more suitable for assessing framework-type AI Agents, such as Eliza.

Search GitHub to see the developer attention for framework-type AI Agents, i.e., how many stars they have. For example, ai16z/Eliza gained 5,300 stars in less than a month. This is quite an astonishing figure.

Data source: GitHub

As shown in the above image, the developer attention for ai16z/Eliza surpassed Uniswap in just one month. This indicates a high level of interest from developers in this framework. Another set of data can also be compared: Sui currently has 6,400 stars, Solana has 13,000 stars, Ethereum has 50,000 stars, and Base has 70,000 stars.

However, it is important to note that stars on GitHub can also be manipulated, although such behavior is not widespread. Therefore, this metric can serve as an auxiliary reference for decision-making.

Three: KOL Follower Count Method

One relatively certain track for AI Agents is: KOL.

Currently, well-known AI Agent-style KOLs include: Terminal of Truths (210,000 followers), aixbt (160,000 followers), Zerebro (60,000 followers), Eliza (14,000 followers), and LUNA (30,000 followers on Twitter, 500,000 followers on TikTok), etc.

One significant difference in this AI revolution is the semantic change. I expect that an AI Agent KOL leader will emerge, with its token market value potentially exceeding 5 billion dollars. The changes in follower numbers may become an important metric.

Four: Influential Figures Method

There are constantly leading figures in the AI industry entering Crypto. Currently, there are founders from a16z like Marc Andreessen (supported representative project: ai16z) and Sam Altman (supported representative project: Worldcoin), among others. They have brought multiple cryptocurrencies worth over a billion dollars to the crypto space. It is expected that more will come in the future, such as Musk and his founded Grok.

There are also lower certainty factors, such as companies like Apple, Meta, and TikTok, as well as AI firms like Claude, Copilot, and Gemini; these AI manufacturers may bring something different to Crypto.

Particular attention should be paid to those tech giants researching both AI and Crypto, such as Musk, Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang. Their leadership in the tech industry often also translates into the crypto sector.

Five: External World Breakthrough Method

If AI Agents are indeed one of the biggest narratives in this cycle, it is necessary to pay extra attention to the influence of AI Agents on the external world. For example, Web2 developers are attracted to the AI Agent frameworks and products in Web3. As far as I know, Eliza is currently receiving attention from some external AI practitioners.

Products related to KOLs, such as Terminal of Truths and LUNA, have also gained attention from outsiders, with over 200,000 followers, and their influence is still expanding. It is essential to understand and assess whether this trend will further break through circles and impact a broader external world.

Six: Head Exchange 'Coin Listing Effect' Method

Those who participated early in Sandbox may know that some Metaverse concepts skyrocketed after being listed on Binance. Head exchanges are called head exchanges because they need to ensure that the coins they list can lead the market; if they are led by other exchanges, they will gradually lose their status as head exchanges.

Pay close attention to the coin listing information and Launchpad information from five exchanges: Binance, Upbit, Coinbase, Bitget, and Hype, as they are in fierce competition regarding the 'coin listing effect' this cycle.

Especially Coinbase and Hype, Americans indeed lead other regions in the broader AI Agent sector, possibly having a faster information advantage.

Seven: Public Chain Method

Some public chains are naturally suitable for the birth of AI Agent projects, naturally lowering the thresholds for the emergence of AI Agents. Finding a few good public chains to identify good AI Agent projects can yield great results.

For example, Base, with 70,000 developer stars, has surpassed Ethereum and far exceeded Solana and Sui, making it a standout in terms of latecomer advantages.

Coinbase itself places great importance on AI Agents and laid out its plans early. This will give it a significant first-mover advantage in future competition.

The advantage of Solana lies in its meme platform's success, and AI Agents heavily rely on memes to thrive, which is a significant advantage for Solana.

Eight: AI Agent Community Method

Everyone has their own blind spots, but the power of a team is all-encompassing and without gaps.

Establishing your own AI Agent discussion group and community, or finding one or two high-quality communities, is very important. Opportunities for AI Agents often emerge in unnoticed corners, and this is where community power is needed.

Nine: Track Segmentation Method

Internally, AI Agents are divided into various tracks, such as KOL track, beauty streamer track, research blogger track, meme platform track, VC track, platform track, framework track, etc.

There are many tracks within AI Agents, and not all tracks can remain unrefuted. It is necessary to find the truly promising tracks that have a chance to survive until the end.

Ten: Origin Method

The very beginning starts with who initiated it? Which AI Agent opened the narrative for the entire track? It may well be the leader of this track.

In the NFT track, CryptoPunks has always held a transcendent position, while Ape created a new narrative for the entire track, and Fat Penguin is one of the best NFTs combining with Web2; in the Metaverse track, Sandbox and Decentraland were early on major exchanges, occupying leading positions in the Metaverse; Uniswap was the first to realize the concept of automated market makers in decentralized exchanges (DEX), becoming a pioneer in the market... Projects that achieve systematic innovation often capture the largest share of track dividends.

It will be like BTC, making you always feel it's expensive, but looking back you realize it was really cheap.