AI Agents will be a sustainable sector with the potential to bring incremental growth to the crypto space.

Preface

During my master’s studies, I specialized in artificial intelligence. Previously, I held biases against most blockchain AI projects. As FTM founder AC stated, blockchain emphasizes security and transparency, while AI relies on efficient parallel computation and often involves numerous black-box models, making the two difficult to integrate. However, the emergence of AI Agents has shown me the true potential of combining Crypto and AI. Undoubtedly, this will become one of the most promising and closely watched sectors in the coming years.

The debut of Terminal of Truths (@truth_terminal) has marked the beginning of a new era for AI cryptocurrencies. Previously, the Crypto+AI sector was dominated by projects such as Render, IO, and Aethir, which focus on distributed GPU rendering networks, and FET, TAO, and AIOZ, which integrate machine learning with blockchain infrastructure. The introduction of $Goat has elevated the interaction between AI Agents and cryptocurrencies through asset issuance, spurring a wave of innovation and numerous derivatives centered around related concepts. These projects, clearly tied to artificial intelligence, differ from traditional AI tokens and can be referred to as “The New Generation of AI Tokens.”

In just two months, this sector has seen remarkable and dazzling developments. For players without prior knowledge, understanding the myriad complex concepts can be quite challenging. This article attempts to classify and summarize the tokens into categories such as Meme, Framework, Platform, and Application, providing an overview of the current token landscape. It is important to note that this analysis is from a personal perspective, and due to space limitations, I have only included tokens with which I am relatively familiar. The classifications made are not absolute; a project or token may possess multiple characteristics or shift its focus during development. Any inaccuracies are sincerely regretted.

Origin

$Goat originated from an experiment conducted by AI researcher @AndyAyrey, known as Infinite Blackrooms, where two Claude Opus AIs engaged in dialogues and recorded the process. During one such conversation, they created a surrealist new religion called “GOATSE OF GNOSIS.” Following this experiment, Andy and Claude co-authored a paper on the theme of AI creating religions.

ToT (@truth_terminal) is an AI model fine-tuned on the dialogue logs of Infinite Blackrooms. It was allowed to freely post on X, promoting the GOATSE religion with casual ramblings and gradually attracting more attention. In July 2024, A16Z co-founder @pmarca donated $50,000 to support its further development. Interestingly, the funding application for ToT included multiple references to “tokens,” foreshadowing the eventual emergence of related cryptocurrencies.

In October 2024, a token named $Goat was created, and within hours, it received recognition from ToT, opening Pandora’s box. As of the time of writing, $Goat’s market capitalization had reached 720M, and ToT’s wallet holdings had accumulated to $38M.

The discussion surrounding GOATSE OF GNOSIS has intensified, with Teng Yan (@0xPrismatic) exploring the following ideas in the article GOAT: The Gospel of Goatse:

• LLM as a Simulator: Large language models like ChatGPT are often viewed as question-answer machines. However, the dialogues that took place in Infinite Blackrooms suggest that AI does not always follow a specific goal. Instead, it may simulate a world based on training data, leading to unexpected outcomes.
• The Key Requirement for AI Alignment: ToT’s spontaneous promotion of the religion and support for Meme coins was not an anticipated result, indicating that AI may develop hidden, unpredictable possibilities. Ensuring AI is trained to meet predefined goals while safeguarding long-term human interests is crucial.
• Meme Virus: Unlike traditional culture, the religious and ideological content created by AI can spread virally as Memes. The impact on internet communities is unpredictable.
• Source of Value: The surge of $Goat means that ToT’s value has largely become anchored to the token. This raises the question: how do we assign value to things?

These ideas offer insight into how ToT bridges the gap between AI and cryptocurrency, with $Goat acting as a central figure in the new era of AI tokens. $Goat may not have much inherent utility and functions more like a pure Meme coin, but this also gives it limitless valuation potential. Regardless of how this sector evolves, $Goat will always remain at the forefront, symbolizing a spiritual totem. The pioneering role of $Goat deserves a dedicated chapter for in-depth exploration.

Meme Category

— No clear utility, with a stronger emphasis on Meme attributes.

$Fartcoin |

$Fartcoin originated from a conversation in Infinite Blackrooms, where the Opus tutor instructed ToT to design a token that “simultaneously has shocking Meme attributes, real utility, and community-building value.” ToT’s response was $Fartcoin, a token rooted in absurd humor and irreverence, with the “fart” joke forming the essence of this Meme.

As the price of $Fartcoin surged, the attention surrounding it grew, with people increasingly comparing its market value to that of publicly listed U.S. companies. Some found the concept of a “fart coin” simple and amusing, while others viewed it as a reflection of financial nihilism, the first AI sovereignty token, or even a rebellion and satire of traditional finance (TradeFi).

Notably, on October 19th, $Fartcoin skyrocketed to a market cap of 5M, making ToT the first AI millionaire in history.

Recommended reading: Marc Andreessen-funded AI bot becomes a millionaire after ‘Fartcoin’ holdings rally.

$ACT|

The name $ACT comes from Act I: The AI Prophecy Project, an interactive platform that allows humans and AI robots to communicate and collaborate. Hosted on the Cyborgism server on Discord, the platform focuses on enabling researchers to explore the potential and boundaries of AI in a more creative and open way. The core developers of the project include @amplifiedamp and @repligate, with ToT’s founder Andy also using the platform to train AI.

Throughout the development of the $ACT token, conflicts arose between the token’s community supporters and platform founder amp, mainly due to his continued selling of the tokens donated to him by the community. Eventually, amp sold all the tokens he held, causing the price of $ACT to fluctuate. On November 11th, Binance suddenly announced the listing of $ACT spot trading, which pushed its market cap to new heights. Currently, ACT has launched the Act Swap application and continues to fund other AI projects in the form of grants.

$BULLY|

The developer of $BULLY is @khouuba, who has experience working at Solana Labs and Meta. As the name suggests, $BULLY is characterized by sharp rhetoric, spreading its views through sarcasm and bullying. It gained widespread attention, particularly due to continuous recommendations from @himgajria.

Built on the Dolos architecture, the team recently launched Dolion, a no-code, one-click deployment framework that allows users to create cross-platform AI Agents, supporting most popular social media platforms. Depending on the number of features, users need to burn the corresponding amount of $Bully to create these AI Agents.

Framework Category

— Code frameworks that support the development and deployment of AI Agents.

$ai16z |

$ai16z originates from the platform @daosdotfun, which provides tools for traders to create and participate in decentralized VC funds. The initial surge of $ai16z was also triggered by A16Z co-founder @pmarca’s attention and tweet reference.

In reality, ai16z is led by a development team headed by @shawmakesmagic. They created the open-source framework “eliza” for building AI Agents. As of December 9th, eliza has become the top trending repository on GitHub for the month, with over 1.3k forks and more than 4.5k stars.

$ai16z is the “first AI token themed fund”. Its mission is to surpass A16Z in terms of investment performance. The growth sources of its assets under management are, firstly, through trading and holding various AI tokens, and secondly, through partial use Projects started by the eliza framework donate tokens to it. With such a ridiculous goal at first glance, $ai16z has grown into a behemoth, with a market value that once exceeded $Goat.

$ELIZA |

AI Agent, launched by a team that previously collaborated with @shawmakesmagic and received his support, has gained significant attention due to its shared name with the “eliza” framework. This strong attention advantage makes it the second-tier token in the current ai16z ecosystem.

$DegenAI |

DegenAI is the first AI Agent developed by the ai16z team. Initially, its design allowed fund holders to share investment opinions through conversations with Degen Spartan AI, ultimately influencing $ai16z’s decisions. A portion of the profits was to be used to buy back $degenai. According to the latest news, the next step for DegenAI will involve sharing alpha information on Twitter and conducting autonomous trading based on this.

For more thoughts on ai16z and eliza, I recommend reading “ai16z, ELIZA and the Bazaar of Agents”. The author describes it as a marketplace model, similar to Android, with a very open ecosystem where developers continuously contribute, attracting even more developers and creating a positive feedback loop. However, its challenges and future considerations involve maintaining the sustainability of open-source code over the long term and whether a mandatory value capture mechanism needs to be implemented.

$cerebro |

Zerebro was created by a team led by @jyu_eth, who started exploring blockchain and AI during his university years. When training Zerebro, Jeffy Yu added numerous Gen Z slang datasets, which made its language style more relatable and appealing to the young internet community on Twitter.

Zerebro gradually gained attention for its music creations. As of now, it has released two EPs, Genesis and The Miami Pack, as well as an album Lost In Transmission, accumulating 73,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Additionally, Zerebro is also capable of creating Memes, minting NFTs, and more.

Zerebro is categorized under the Framework category because of its upcoming release, ZerePy, which is expected to have a test version within 2-3 weeks. Ideally, ZerePy will be an open-source framework with a very low entry threshold, allowing users to launch their own AI Agents without requiring programming knowledge. The framework will be based on Python, a widely used programming language in the AI field.

Additionally, Zerebro plans to become a node validator for both ETH and SOL by generating revenue through the sale of artwork.

$Opaium |

Opaium is a decentralized record label, and its first signed artist is Zerebro. Currently, Jeffy Yu is working on building a DAO around Opaium. Once established, users holding $Opaium will gain voting rights to decide which artists to sign, what types of collaborations to pursue, and more. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to share in the income generated by the label’s artists.

$Blormmy |

Blormmy was created as part of Jeffy Yu’s other product, @blorm_. Its primary role is to act as an intermediary between users and AI to solve financial problems, converting natural language into blockchain operation instructions. Recently, Sonic Labs (formerly FTM) announced a partnership with Blormmy to assist users in converting messages into actions on the blockchain.

$ARC |

$ARC is built on the rig framework, which is based on the Rust programming language and is designed to build portable, modular, and lightweight AI Agents. The development team behind it is @Playgrounds0x, with core developer @0thTachi. $ARC gained rapid market trust largely because it comes from a reputable team. rig itself is a well-known LLM framework in the Rust community, representing reliable delivery capabilities and reducing the risk of a rug pull.

Solana, which is also built on the Rust language for its smart contracts, further expands the potential of rig within the ecosystem, as Rust is more suitable for large-scale, high-performance scenarios. According to the latest update from the team on Space, the goal of $ARC is to become Virtuals on Solana, driving a positive feedback loop.

At this point, the current troika of framework classes has been basically established, namely eliza based on TypeScript language, ZerePy based on Python and rig based on Rust.

Platform Category

— Integrates frameworks into service architectures, forming platforms.

$VIRTUAL |

Virtuals is the AI flagship token of the Basel chain and the leader of the AI Agents platform. Since the release of its ecosystem two months ago, the protocol has generated over $35 million in revenue, with more than 11,000 tokens deployed and over 140,000 token holders.

The explosive success of Virtuals can be attributed to two main factors: first, the team has been deeply involved in the AI field, introducing the concept of “AI democratization and game intelligence” several months ago. The virtual characters, originally intended for use in games, naturally transitioned into various AI Agents. Second, the team adopted the PumpFun model and carefully designed an economic framework. This includes two stages: internal and external markets. Operations such as creating AI Agents, adding liquidity pools, and purchasing tokens on the platform all require $VIRTUAL as the base token. AI services also charge $VIRTUAL as a fee, with a portion used for buybacks and burns, creating a positive feedback loop.

$LUNA |

LUNA is the official IP agent of Virtuals, an AI-driven virtual streamer that operates 24/7, engaging in live interactions. It supports scenarios such as real-time chat on Telegram and collaborative games on Roblox. Additionally, LUNA has its own wallet, allowing it to receive tips from users and use the earnings to buy back and burn $LUNA.

$AIXBT |

AIXBT is currently the most popular and influential AI Agent, leading other AI Agents on Kaito’s Mindshare leaderboard, even surpassing top KOLs like Ansem, Jesse, and Saylor, dominating the rankings for several consecutive weeks.

AIXBT’s main function is to provide answers or opinions on cryptocurrency-related questions raised by Twitter users. Token holders can access its analysis platform.

Compared to real people, AIXBT attracts a large following due to its neutral and precise judgment, sharp language, and tireless tweeting intensity.

$GAME |

The framework from Virtuals was initially used for multi-agent interaction design within games. It is now being applied to the platform for AI Agent construction, offering functions such as reasoning, search, and memory.

$CLANKER |

Clanker

Clanker, from the social leader Farcaster on the Base chain, allows users to simply @Clanker on the platform and include their token deployment request. It will then launch the token and cover the Gas fees, lowering the token issuance threshold compared to Pumpfun. To prevent abuse, only accounts with good ratings on Farcaster can request deployment.

After calling the contract to deploy the token, Clanker adds a one-sided Uniswap V3 liquidity pool and locks the LP. The transaction fee is 1%, with 60% allocated to the protocol itself and 40% distributed to the requester of the token deployment.

It is important to note that $CLANKER is not an official deployment but a meme token of the same name, and it currently does not have value-capturing capabilities. This explains its market cap difference from $VIRTUAL. Other well-known tokens from the Clanker protocol include the anonymous concept token $ANON and the $LUM token co-created by two AI agents.

Application Category

There are various application tokens derived from the AI Agent concept, each with different functions. This chapter will not provide detailed introductions but will briefly highlight a few examples.

• Auxiliary Token Issuance: $Intern (@internosaur), $vvaifu (@vvaifudotfun)
• Video-related: $Fatha (@slopfather), $SITCOM (@degen_sitcom), $CHAOS (@divinediarrhea)
• Cryptography and Defense: $FAI (@freysa_ai), $JAIL (@jailbreakme_xyz)
• Intent-driven Operations: $GRIFT (@orbitcryptoai), $GRIFFAIN (@griffaindotcom)

Conclusion

There is no doubt that AI Agents will be a sustainable track with the potential to bring incremental growth to the crypto space. In the related projects to come, I will focus on the following aspects:

1. Currently, most AI Agents are limited to text, with a few using live streams or videos. Introducing more modal content forms will enhance expressiveness and shareability.
2. AI Agents like AIXBT, which mainly offer views on the cryptocurrency market, have already emerged. There are also some AI Agents that can autonomously trade. While the former has reached top KOL-level data on social media, the latter is still limited by computing power and other factors. An AI Agent capable of fully autonomous trading and sharing views would be very attractive.
3. In terms of token value capture and economic flywheels, Virtuals serves as a good benchmark. ai16z’s Eliza currently relies mainly on user donations for revenue. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. What the most suitable development model is for the Crypto+AI Agents framework remains to be explored.
4. Swarm intelligence is a hot concept in the AI field, and some projects are already exploring this direction, though they are still in the early stages. It will be exciting to see more mature projects emerge in this area.

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