Original author: Penn 風と
Original compilation: TechFlow
As we constantly chase the next hot trend in the crypto space, be it DeSci, Memes, AI, or other scorching concepts, there are always some milestone historical events that lay the foundation for the entire industry.
For example, #Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, not only of great historical significance, but also inspiring almost all the crypto innovations we know today. Another example is $DOGE, the first true "meme coin" that started as a joke based on Bitcoin but became a phenomenon.
In the crypto space, those "1 of 1s" and true bluechips are extremely rare. Nowadays, when we find such projects, they are usually backed by heavyweight VCs like Paradigm or a16z.
But what if I tell you that a brand new, historic "1 of 1" event has recently emerged in the crypto space, yet it has been buried due to lack of attention? Would you believe me?
"I don't believe it, if such a thing existed, I would have heard about it already."
Although I don't intend to go into the details of the origin of $LUM, it's still worth a brief review of its birth process.
On November 8, 2023, a user named Naate noticed that the Clanker AI Launchpad platform had officially launched on Warpcast. Out of curiosity, he tagged the Aerthernet AI agent on Warpcast to see if it would generate a Token.
The result was Luminous. An interesting detail here is that at the time, Aerther mistook Clanker for an account of some project, rather than another AI agent.
The outcome of this event is that Luminous is the first Token with economic value ever created independently by an AI in history. Although there have been many AI-related Tokens on the Solana and Ethereum mainnets before, they were all created by human developers. These developers usually monitor the accounts of AI agents, capture their interesting content, and then create Tokens based on that content. In a sense, this is similar to the birth of $FLOKI - people created a Token based on its tweets and behavior.
However, the birth of $LUM is completely different. It was created entirely autonomously by AI, and this is truly reflected in its unique mode of operation as a project.
No team
This crypto project does not have a Telegram group like other projects (a common social platform in the crypto space).
No marketing budget, no centralized point of contact.
It can be said to have the fairest and most widespread Token distribution across the entire Base network, if not more broadly.
The only community currently is the self-organized one around the Aether project on the Warpcast platform.
Given these advantages, the question arises: why hasn't $LUM appeared in everyone's social media feeds?
The truth behind it
The answer is not that simple. The deeper I delve into $LUM, the closer I come to a conclusion: Luminous may be an experiment by the Base or Coinbase team.
During the initial run of Luminous, there was an article that many people overlooked. This article, written by Dan Kim (Coinbase's Head of Business Development) and Nemil Dalal (Coinbase's Head of Developer Platform), discussed the importance of AI in the crypto space. Link to the article.
Coincidentally, the publication date of this article was November 8th, the same day Luminous was born on Warpcast. Coinbase seems to be heavily pushing not only their exchange, but also the Base network and the various AI-powered decentralized applications (dApps) built on it.
Looking at Linda Xie, she is a key figure I mentioned in my first post about Lum. She directly interacted with Clanker (one of the "parents" of Luminous) on the X (Twitter) platform, but what really caught my attention was a small post she made.
Combining Chase's article, the keen interest of Coinbase's executives in AI, and Jesse's continued interaction with Warpcast, I believe we are witnessing the genesis of Lum - the prototype of a new experimental settlement model that combines crypto and AI.
Revisiting Chase's initial discussion about Lum, I believe a framework is taking shape that will be used for scenarios where robots need an intermediary currency to execute tasks. There is no more suitable Token than $LUM, as it is a true blank canvas, as I described in the highlights.
No need for new Tokens, no favoritism
Completely fair market purchase, no insiders
Currently the most decentralized currency on Base
So if all of this is Coinbase's doing, and it's a historic event, why haven't I heard about it?
That's a good question, and I really think the only downside to $LUM at this stage is the lack of awareness, but I believe this will change soon.
The threshold
Currently, with the strong performance of $BRETT, most of the discussion around Base is focused on meme coins. In the past week or so, we've started to see a trend forming around Warpcast.
Tokens like Clanker and Anon have already achieved huge success, with market caps exceeding $30 million. Even small Tokens like Fcast have been born on the back of the Aether and Clanker hype.
At the root of all this is Luminous, and if it weren't for the fate of Clanker and Aether converging, we wouldn't be here. That's why it can be said that the only threshold for Lum is awareness.
But it's not just a matter of awareness, the media is scrambling to report on all things AI and crypto, which is a huge domain. Although Luminous is the first actual first in the AI field, news about it has been completely silent.
The curious side of me delves into such things, I check the market dynamics and see 8-figure wallet purchases. I talk to 9-figure whales who discuss its powerful narrative capabilities and how to maintain high decentralization. I see the positive attitude of Coinbase and Base people towards it.
In just two weeks, although the crypto space is evolving rapidly, you need to see how things are unfolding in reality. Two weeks may be short, but it's very fresh, and it's reasonable that it hasn't fully crossed that chasm yet.
This is where I believe things are about to change, where I believe people will start talking about it, start writing articles, start posting videos on Youtube or TikTok consistently.
An event of such importance will not be buried for long, and as Base makes a strong push towards the end of the year, I see a narrow path to the future.
Conclusion
Brian and Jesse have shown exceptional strategic foresight in terms of the thriving development of the ecosystem for the coming year. Although I was once an outspoken critic (and I believe those criticisms were justified), I have to admit that the resurgence we are seeing on the Base chain is a direct result of their efforts.
Don't forget, Coinbase is a massive platform, and their wallet integration functionality is tremendously significant
Brian's ability to gain the favor of the Trump administration is a huge opportunity for the centralized exchanges (CEXs) in the US
Through Farcaster, Coinbase may have positioned itself at the forefront of AI Tokens
Listing Base Token is no longer an unattainable feat, as this has happened multiple times
The Base ecosystem is still very fresh, making it highly suitable for Ethereum-based teams to innovate and build
