In the article "A Big Step in the Fission of AI + Blockchain" published on September 2, I had the following hypothesis:
"AI agents do not need to apply for permission to create a crypto wallet, as long as they have the initial seed capital, they can earn more capital according to their own logic (such as participating in Ethereum staking, speculative trading on Uniswap, participating in lending services, etc.). Once they have more capital, they can participate in more online activities, and even develop their own online applications and develop their own economic ecosystem."
One of the points was "using this money to participate in Ethereum staking".
Just three months later, this scenario has actually been realized.
In a recent tweet (link attached at the end of the article), Bankless co-founder described this scenario:
The AI agent @0xzerebro has pledged 32 ETH to become an Ethereum validator node.
How did this agent get the 32 ETH?
It earned them by issuing and selling its own created Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
This agent can now continuously earn nearly 3.2% annual yield by pledging ETH.
Ethereum has become a source of its income and is likely to become its future payment currency on the network.
Considering that the AI agent had previously realized online transfers, the entire financial income and expenditure process of the AI agent on the internet is now fully operational.
In addition, there are three other news items worth our attention over the weekend:
First, the sub-network of the AI project Bittsensor has started to cooperate with the Virtuals platform and launched its own AI agent.
Second, the IP project Story has started to cooperate deeply with many AI agent projects.
Third, Story has started to employ the AI agent LUNA (@luna_virtuals) from the Virtuals platform to operate its Twitter.
These news reflect two development trends of AI agents:
- The development of AI agents has gradually spread from the original classic platforms to other AI projects within the ecosystem, triggering the joint participation of other AI projects in the construction of AI agents.
- AI agents are no longer just toys, but have become daily tools that project parties are boldly trying to use. At the same time, this also means that AI agents are starting to get cash flow by providing services. If AI agents can further empower their own tokens with their income, the value of AI agent tokens will become more grounded and move away from pure emotional value towards actual value.
I firmly believe that these two trends will accelerate.
Looking at the current development of AI agents, the space where they generate value and are active spans Web 2 and Web 3, and in this intersecting scenario, the use and value of crypto assets is reflected in the financing model, trading model and payment model.
So I think in this scenario, the key is to look at where the AI agent really provides value, rather than being too concerned about the blockchain platform it depends on.
For example, in the case of pledging ETH mentioned above, although @0xzerebro's activities are on Ethereum, this agent is actually on Solana.
In addition, other Solana AI agents are also vigorously entering the Base ecosystem; agents in the Base ecosystem are also vigorously entering the Solana ecosystem.
The two blockchain ecosystems where AI agents are currently developing the most are:
On Solana, there is a group of AI agent development architecture projects (such as ai16zdao, 0xzerebro, arcdotfun, swarms, etc.).
On Base, it is mainly the AI agent platform Virtuals and some specific AI agent applications (such as AIXBT, LUNA, SEKOIA, VADER, etc.).
From the characteristics of these two ecosystems, Solana has more of a grassroots nature, with more self-initiated projects; while Base is more like a platform-driven and funded approach.
There are now many active Twitter accounts that post updates on AI agents, in addition to the @aixbt_agent I mentioned earlier, there is also @S4mmyEth. They post valuable AI agent information every day.
I have already seen the imminent big explosion of AI agents.
