Platform coins are soaring, where will the next trend come from?

Here is the English translation: Source: Crypto Trader On December 24th, just as most people believed that the adjustment had become a foregone conclusion, Bitcoin suddenly rebounded sharply, rising nearly 5% after plunging to $92,000. So what happened that caused funds to rush in to buy the dips ahead of time? On December 24th, the stock of MicroStrategy, the world's largest Bitcoin bull, was officially included in the Nasdaq-100 Index, marking the formal entry of Bitcoin, once seen as an alternative asset, into the mainstream investment field. According to data disclosed by Bloomberg, there are currently more than 200 exchange-traded products (ETPs) tracking the Nasdaq-100 Index or its variants globally, with total assets of about $540 billion. MSTR's weighting in the Nasdaq-100 is 0.47%, which means that MSTR will receive $2.5 billion in passive inflows. Just before MSTR was included in the Nasdaq-100 Index, on October 23rd, documents filed by MicroStrategy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed that the company was seeking approval to increase the authorized number of Class A common stock and preferred stock. It is worth noting that at the time of the application, MicroStrategy still had $7.08 billion in immediate issuance capacity unused. Such an eager pursuit of expanding the financing scale indicates that MicroStrategy is impatient to embark on a new round of Bitcoin purchasing. Considering that MicroStrategy will enter a 2-week to 1-month lockup period in mid-January, its additional buying is likely to be implemented intensively in the near future, which will undoubtedly affect the cycle and magnitude of this round of adjustment, and may even lead to an early rebound in the currency price. Therefore, the bottom of this round of adjustment is likely to be higher than the previously predicted $88,000, and the adjustment is also likely to end before January 20th. During the market volatility and adjustment period, the performance of CEX platform tokens has been outstanding. Almost all mainstream exchange platform tokens have risen against the trend, with second-tier platform tokens such as BGB and GT even hitting new highs. There are two main considerations for funds to choose to break through CEX platform tokens: 1) It is generally believed that "short-term adjustments do not change the long-term bull market", and the "bull market leader" is still the highest certainty sector. 2) In the context of differentiation, the solid fundamentals of platform tokens can still support their counter-cyclical growth. Based on the Q1-Q3 burning data, the current PE of BNB and OKB is only 13 times and 15 times respectively, much lower than most traditional brokerages. Although Q4 data has not yet been released, if measured by market trading volume, the quarter-on-quarter revenue growth of most exchanges can reach triple digits (the leading DeFi projects have basically grown 5-10 times). Therefore, before the release of Q4 data, the author believes that the top platform tokens such as BNB and OKB still have the opportunity for valuation correction. However, low valuation has both advantages and disadvantages. Although investing in low-valued platform tokens has a higher margin of safety, when the cash flow and growth potential of the entire sector can be clearly predicted, this sector also loses its imagination space. Therefore, platform token investment is only suitable for conservative investors who do not require excessive returns. Recently, the blockchain field has been swept up in an AI Agent hype. From the market performance, the direction of capital speculation is mainly concentrated in two areas: one is AI DAO, exploring smart investment assistance tools and interesting meme coin issuance models, represented by projects like Ai16z; the other is to build the incentive layer of open AI systems (games, metaverse, social networking, etc.), represented by projects like Virtual. However, these projects are mostly still at the conceptual hype stage, and are still far from the ultimate goal of AI Agents achieving autonomous perception of the environment, learning, decision-making and task execution. Compared to the leading projects such as ARKM, RENDER, and TAO in the previous round of AI trends, the current AI+ projects appear crude and empty. Therefore, the author does not believe that the currently hot projects truly represent the AI Agent in the blockchain field. If one were to pick out a promising direction from this, the author believes that the development of the AI incentive layer is more in line with the core value of blockchain. After all, the core value of blockchain lies in data, and the foundation of intelligent learning and decision-making also depends on data. Blockchain provides unique advantages for the development of AI - a decentralized and incentivized ecosystem where developers and users can jointly participate in the construction and optimization of AI systems. Empowered by blockchain, the evolution of AI is no longer limited to the control of a few giants or centralized platforms, but can be driven by participants worldwide. Each participant can contribute their own creativity, data or algorithms through the incentive mechanism of the blockchain, thereby promoting the continuous optimization and innovation of the system. For example, to make AI companions have more natural and emotionally rich interactive capabilities, traditional algorithm training and data collection are obviously not enough. AI companions need to constantly learn and evolve through real-time interaction with users, and this interaction includes not only technical training, but also user emotions, creativity and expression. Developers can contribute new emotional recognition algorithms, users can help AI better understand and respond to emotions through their behavioral data and language input, and creators can design more creative interactive methods and personalized functions. Through the incentive mechanism of the blockchain, these contributions will be fairly rewarded and drive the continuous upgrading and improvement of the AI system. In summary, the combination of blockchain and AI Agents mainly plays an empowering role. Relying on the open, fair and transparent platform of the blockchain, it can fully stimulate the enthusiasm of all participants in the ecosystem, ensure that their achievements are maximally protected, and provide them with effective channels for monetization. If one were to single out a standout, the author believes that Virtual's narrative potential will be significantly stronger than Ai16z. In terms of operation, although the overall market has entered an adjustment period, the bull market momentum still exists. Funds will continue to choose suitable directions to break through, and the market will never lack trading opportunities. For conservative investors, the top platform tokens are a good choice. For speculators who are passionate about emotional gaming, AI Agents are undoubtedly a direction with higher odds.