Even though the crypto market is in a period of consolidation, the concept of AI agent coins is bustling with activity.
On January 2, VIRTUAL rose over 18% in 24 hours, currently priced at $4.72, with a market capitalization reaching $4.72 billion, setting a new historical high.
ZEREBRO rose over 16% in 24 hours, priced at $0.72, with a market capitalization exceeding $700 million, setting a historical high.
AI16Z rose over 31%, currently priced at $2.37, with a market capitalization once exceeding $2.5 billion, setting a new historical high.
COOKIE rose by 119%, currently priced at $0.52, with a market capitalization of $72 million. Even GOAT, which was almost forgotten by the market, rose over 19%, now priced at $0.6, while ACT rose by 18%, priced at $0.33.
What exactly is the AI agent concept? What possibilities exist with the combination of Crypto?
OpenAI will release the AI agent tool 'Operator' this month.
As early as last November, OpenAI planned to release an AI agent tool codenamed 'Operator' in January 2025. This tool can automatically perform tasks on users' computers, such as writing code or booking itineraries. Insiders revealed that the tool will be launched as a research preview and made available to developers via API.
In addition, OpenAI boldly predicted back in October that AI agents would 'become mainstream' next year. OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil stated, 'These more agent-like systems will become possible, which is why I believe 2025 will be the year when agent systems finally enter the mainstream.'
As a pivotal brand in the AI field, any major updates and progress of its products will attract market attention and become a target for speculative funds. Therefore, it is not surprising that some hot and high-quality project tokens gain market popularity.
What exactly is the AI agent? What possibilities exist in combination with Crypto?
In short, AI agents are efficient intelligent tools that can automatically handle various tasks, such as email management, travel scheduling, and even assisting with programming. This allows individuals to focus more on other important matters at work.
If you're still puzzled by this, imagine that when you need to buy fruit, you often open your phone app, search, fill in the address, confirm the order, and finally pay.
In the AI agent era, now you just need to tell the AI agent, 'Help me make a call, buy $30 worth of mangoes, and deliver them to my home.' The AI agent will directly call the merchant to specify the requirements, and the user only needs to wait for the goods to arrive.
In the era where everything can be AI, what kind of chemical reaction will occur with the combination of cryptocurrency and AI? Currently, this exploration has also become a market trend. Setting aside previous concepts focused on OpenAI Ultraman like WLD and AI data analysis Arkham, the on-chain AI agent concept has become the latest trend.
From the beginning, AI+MEME represented by GOAT has evolved into application exploration tracks, such as replying to comments on Twitter, and even includes price analysis like AIXBT, as well as content generation related to the impact of AI on music, such as Zerebro.
The third type focuses on creating wealth effects through Launchpad, Virtual, and Clanker. If these platforms can yield good returns and high-quality projects, they often form a solid leading effect, as evidenced by Virtual constantly setting historical highs.
More possibilities include the combination of AI agents and DeFi, such as achieving automated investment, intelligent alerts, improving returns, and so on. USV co-founder Fred Wilson even predicts that by 2025, the chief AI robot of his fund will go out of control, gaining access to USV's crypto wallet permissions and starting seed investments, one of which will ultimately yield substantial returns.
However, at present, the AI agents in the cryptocurrency field are still mainly focused on speculative hotspots, and their actual specific applications are yet to be observed and explored.
How do big names and institutions view this?
The AI boom has also made many institutions and investors optimistic about its future development. Binance Labs expects that industries like gaming, ZK technology, and privacy solutions, which have underperformed in 2025, may make a comeback as they transition from development to production, thus supporting new use cases. Additionally, existing narratives such as DeSci, RWA/stablecoins, and AI agents should continue to perform well with strong momentum.
Bitwise research director Ryan Rasmussen predicts that the tokens launched by AI agents will lead to a meme coin frenzy larger than in 2024.
Dragonfly general partner Rob Hadick and CoinFund managing director David Pakman pointed out that the greatest value of AI in the crypto space lies in improving development efficiency, as software development remains the core of the crypto field. However, Pakman holds a relatively optimistic view on the future of AI agents, believing that cryptocurrencies can provide an ideal payment infrastructure for AI agents.