From infrastructure to capital operation: The overall environment of the cryptocurrency ecosystem has really changed

The Rise of AI Agents: A Profound Transformation in the Crypto Ecosystem This article explores how the current wave of AI agent-driven changes is reshaping the market landscape, from infrastructure to capital operations, and even user participation models, indicating that the "big environment has changed." From Infra Stack to AI Agent Application Prelude? In the past, delivering a public chain required a long development cycle of 1-3 years. After the TGE, however, the user base and application ecosystem often failed to match the expected market value, resulting in many infrastructure projects that were disconnected from actual market needs. Going forward, projects should first allow AI agents to run on the chain, letting the functionality, performance, and user experience of the AI agents validate the technical foundation of the chain infrastructure. This application-first approach can help verify market demand and avoid launching solutions without real-world applications. From VC Funding Rounds to MEME-ification of Communities? In the past, VC capital drove the birth of top-tier projects. The information asymmetry in the primary market led to increasingly narrow profit margins in the secondary market, causing conflicts between Western and Eastern capital, as well as between VCs and exchanges. This resulted in issues like high FDV tokens and persistent price declines. Going forward, projects may be built as open-source public goods, without white papers in the short term but with visible product applications on Github. They can directly seek funding from the secondary market, allowing AI agents to autonomously manage assets. The continuous growth of the asset pool and the increasing number of holders can bring greater potential to the project, while early builders only need to keep empowering the project. From Airdrop Farming to Partner Co-building? In the past, projects often offered airdrops to acquire early users and traffic, leading to a "witch community" culture of quick profit-taking or prolonged PUA (Player-User Advantage) exploitation, resulting in inevitable conflicts. Going forward, projects can use MEME-ified secondary market launches, designing appropriate Tokenomics (like LP fees, transaction taxes, and vested allocations) for sustainable growth. In this process, community users are both early investors and continuous co-builders expanding the consensus, making it worthwhile for most to "stay the course" and profit. From CEX Listing Endgame to DEX Dominance? In the past, most projects struggled to obtain CEX listings after the DEX stage, due to low liquidity and user base. Some even ended up "lying flat" after the TGE under this pressure. Going forward, more projects will choose to build continuously on DEXes, as on-chain DEXes will capture the majority of market liquidity. While this may lead to a "chaotic era," quality projects have a better chance of "grassroots uprising" without being marginalized under the dominance of the old CEX system. The trend may shift towards DEXes as the primary market, with CEXes serving only as supplementary liquidity providers. From Entrepreneurs "Not Speaking Human" to Founders "Laughing, Raging, and Cursing"? In the past, the highly competitive market with many projects led to a vast gap between top-tier and tail-end projects. Successful founders often became detached, focusing on public welfare and charity. Going forward, project founders who do not connect with the community and remain on the product frontline will find it difficult to gain traction in the market and ecosystem. The new market rules may force founders to be "laughing, raging, and cursing" on the front lines, which may invite criticism but could be seen as a more "authentic" Dev image from the perspective of retail investors, compared to the aloof "entrepreneur." Note: The above transformations and disruptions are not absolute and may not happen overnight. Instead, a mix of various models is more likely, and early on, there will probably be a multitude of issues. Nevertheless, these changes represent a glimmer of hope in breaking the current stagnant system.