jakiro
Author: Jay Jo, Source: Tiger Research, Compiled by: Shaw Bitchain Vision
summary
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After the token price plummeted, the AI Agent market lost its momentum, but technology development is still underway.Through actual product releases and dedicated on-chain capabilities, the field of decentralized financial artificial intelligence (DeFAI) has regained attention.
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A dedicated AI Agent optimized for specific features replaces the previous universal AI Agent.Projects like Virtuals are actively building infrastructure to connect these AI Agents and enable collaboration between them.
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AI Agent will become the core feature of crypto projects.Ensuring the infrastructure for smooth communication and cooperation between Agents will become crucial.
1. The craze has passed and technology is still developing
The crypto industry integrates artificial intelligence technologies in a variety of ways, with AI Agent attracting the most attention.The total market value of the related tokens once reached about US$16 billion, which shows the market’s strong interest in it.But this concern is short-lived.Most projects failed to meet development expectations, with token prices plummeting more than 90% from their peak.
A price drop does not mean a technical regression.AI Agent is still an important technical field in the field of encryption.Discussions about actual use cases have become more specific, and the team is continuing to test new approaches.This report explores how AI Agent operates in the field of encryption and explores its possible future development directions.
2. The AI Agent ecosystem reshapes the pattern after the boom
2.1. Early AI Agent projects gradually faded out of the market
The AI Agent sector in the encryption field has attracted attention since the end of 2024.The ElizaOS of the ai16z team and the G.A.M.E development stack of the Virtuals Protocol team significantly lowers the threshold for AI Agent development.Launch platforms such as DAOS.fun and Virtuals Fun provide easy tokenization for projects developed.The process from development to online has become simplified.Market interest surged.Many projects emerged quickly.
Most projects have proposed an ambitious development blueprint, claiming to leverage artificial intelligence technology.Investors are pushing up the token price with expectations for innovative services.But in reality, these projects just fine-tune or prompt engineering transformations for the basic models of OpenAI or Anthropic.Most projects simply build advanced chatbots for X or Telegram, rather than developing standalone services.These projects emphasize innovation vision and technological differentiation, but their actual operation is no different from that of “Meme Coin”.
Some projects are exceptions.Projects like aixbt and Soleng partially implement their roadmap and launch actual services.They use token gating mechanisms to provide token holders with exclusive access.aixbt provides project analysis reports.Soleng analyzes the Github code base to support investor decision-making.
Even these relatively successful examples cannot overcome structural limitations.The unstable income structure that relies solely on rising token prices has hampered development.Technology competitiveness lags behind Web2 companies.The token price eventually fell.Operating funds are exhausted.Most projects have been suspended today.
2.2. DeFAI project revitalizes industry hope
AI Agent technology once faced too high expectations and then entered the adjustment stage.Today, the field of decentralized financial artificial intelligence (DeFAI) has regained attention by proving its usefulness.DeFAI Agent can execute automated investment strategies 24/7.They allow people to easily access complex decentralized finance (DeFi) services through simple natural language instructions.This field was once a core theme in the early AI Agent field.Most projects are still at the roadmap stage, and actual implementation is difficult, and the field has once lost attention.Recent product launches are reshaping market expectations.
Representative projects include Wayfinder and HeyAnon.Wayfinder performs on-chain tasks through a dedicated AI Agent called “Shells”.Shells executes on-chain transactions directly through a built-in dedicated wallet.The system adopts a special multi-agent architecture, including transaction agents, perpetual agents and contract agents.Each agent type focuses on specific roles to automate various investment strategies.Users can easily execute simple cross-chain transactions, or execute advanced strategies such as basis trading and leveraged DCA.
2.3 From individual Agent to Agent Network
Early AI Agent projects advocated a “universal Agent” that can complete all functions, that is, an agent that can perform all functions.This approach focuses more on fundraising than technological completeness.The project party proposed an overly ambitious roadmap to attract a wider market.But most of them expose limitations during the execution phase.
The current Agent ecosystem is moving in a completely different direction.Developers realize the limitations of universal Agents.They now develop Agents that focus on specific areas.These agents can collaborate with each other.It’s like skilled craftsmen with different expertise—carpenters, electricians, plumbers—working together to build a house.
Virtuals Protocol’s ACP (Agent Business Agreement) reflects this trend.It provides a standard framework for communication and task allocation between different agents.Theoriq and General Impression also built infrastructure to enhance interoperability between Agents.The market is reshaping to maximize value for the entire ecosystem rather than a single agent.
3. Future prospects of the AI Agent market
After the early craze subsided, the AI Agent continued to evolve.Speculation has ended, but the project is still leveraging the AI Agent to build new features and services.There are two particularly prominent changes.
First, AI Agent becomes a critical infrastructure.AI Agent is no longer an independent field, but is incorporated into it as the basic function of an encryption project.The blockchain data platform Nansen develops research Agent to make complex on-chain data easier to explore.Agents are also added to decentralized finance projects to improve user access.AI Agent will become the last interface to connect users to blockchain, rather than an optional feature.
Secondly, Agent Business will grow and grow.As AI Agent becomes the standard, interactions between agents and between agents will increase.Secure transaction protocols and trust mechanisms are becoming increasingly important.Projects like Virtuals Protocol’s ACP lay the foundation for this.
These changes will simplify the complexity of cryptocurrencies, improve user experience, and create new economic opportunities.
