Article reproduced from: Foresight News

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 projects reached 10 billion USD. Among them, the market value of Virtuals reached 3 billion USD, and that of ai16z, Fartcoin, etc., reached 1 billion USD. According to incomplete statistics from Foresight News, there are at least 14 cryptocurrencies related to AI Agents that exceed 100 million USD.

Many Web3 practitioners say that AI Agents may be one of the biggest narratives of this cycle, just like DeFi, NFT, and the metaverse in the previous cycles. So, when a brand new crypto narrative in its early stages is born, how can we find the leading crypto projects of AI Agents through a good methodology? I try to list ten methods for readers.

1: On-chain Revenue Method

This method is more suitable for judging platform-based AI Agents, such as Clanker, vvaifu.fun, Virtuals, etc. If there are fluctuations in daily on-chain revenue or the number of on-chain transactions, such as rapid growth over several days, it may indicate that this AI Agent could have good development. Conversely, it may mean that development has stagnated.

Image source: Dune

For example, Clanker, as a star project of the AI Agent in the Base ecosystem, can be seen from on-chain data that after November 26, both the number of issued tokens and traders, as well as on-chain revenue began to decline, and this trend was immediately reflected in the token price.

2: Developer Attention Method

Having many stars on GitHub may indicate that more developers are paying attention to and recognizing this framework. This method is more suitable for judging framework-based AI Agents, such as Eliza.

Search GitHub to see the developer attention for framework-based AI Agents, i.e., how many stars they have. For example, ai16z/Eliza gained 5300 stars in less than a month. This is quite astonishing data.

Data source: GitHub

As shown in the figure above, the developer attention for ai16z/Eliza exceeded that of Uniswap in just one month. It is evident that developers are interested in this framework. Another set of data can 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 should be noted that stars on GitHub can also be manipulated, although such behavior is not widespread. Therefore, this indicator can serve as an auxiliary reference for decision-making.

3: KOL Follower Count Method

One relatively certain track for AI Agents is: KOL.

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

One significant difference in this round of AI revolution lies in the semantic change. I predict that an AI Agent KOL leader will emerge, and the market value of this leader's token may even exceed 5 billion USD. The changes in follower count may become one of the important measurement indicators.

4: Influencer Impact Method

Leading figures in the AI industry are continually entering Crypto, with founders like Marc Andreessen of a16z (supported representative project: ai16z) and Sam Altman (supported representative project: Worldcoin) already contributing multiple billion-dollar cryptocurrencies to the crypto space. It is expected that more will follow, such as Elon Musk and his founded Grok.

There are also those with relatively low certainty, such as Apple, Meta, TikTok, etc., and AI companies like Claude, Copilot, Gemini, which may bring something different to Crypto.

It is especially important to pay attention to those tech giants who are simultaneously researching AI and Crypto, such as Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, and Jensen Huang. Their leadership in the tech industry often translates to the crypto industry.

5: External World Breaking Method

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

Products in the KOL area, such as Terminal of Truths and LUNA, have also attracted the attention of outsiders, with over 200,000 followers, and their influence continues to grow. It is necessary to understand and judge whether this trend will further break through the barriers and affect a broader external world.

6: Top Exchange 'Listing Effect' Method

Those who participated early in Sandbox may know that some metaverse concepts soared after being listed on Binance. Top exchanges are called top 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 top exchanges.

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

Especially Coinbase and Hype, Americans indeed lead in the area of general AI Agents, and they might have faster information advantages than other regions.

7: Public Chain Method

Some public chains are naturally suitable for the birth of AI Agent projects, naturally lowering the threshold for the birth of AI Agents. Finding a few good public chains and then finding good AI Agent projects among them can yield twice the result with half the effort.

For example, Base, its developer stars exceed 70,000, surpassing Ethereum, and far exceeding Solana and Sui, making it a standout with latecomer advantages.

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

Solana's advantage lies in its successful meme platform, and AI Agents are heavily reliant on memes for their rise, which is a significant advantage for Solana.

8: AI Agent Community Method

Everyone has their own blind spots, but the power of the team is comprehensive and without dead angles.

Establishing your own AI Agent discussion group and community, or finding one or two such high-quality communities, is very important. The opportunities for AI Agents often emerge in unnoticed corners, and at this time, the power of the community is needed.

9: Track Segmentation Method

AI Agents are also divided into various tracks, such as KOL track, beautiful host track, investment research blogger track, meme platform track, VC track, platform track, framework track...

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

10: Origin Method

The beginning started from whom? Which AI Agent initiated the narrative of the entire track, it might be the leader of this track.

In the NFT track, CryptoPunks has always held a transcendent position, Ape initiated 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 among the first to be listed on top exchanges, occupying the leading position 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... Those projects that achieve systematic innovation will often capture the largest share of the track's dividends.

It will make you feel it's expensive like BTC, but looking back, you will realize it was really cheap at that time.