Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless; Compiled by Tong Deng, Jinse Finance
In the crypto space, excitement over AI agents is reaching new historical highs.
We've had parasocial relationships before, but the parasocial relationships around AI are a fresh phenomenon.
The vast possibilities of AI interfacing with blockchains in various ways are sparking people's imaginations and their bids. Let's dive in here.
The AI-Centric Meme Coin Wave
The recent buzz largely stems from the Truth Terminal account. It started with Andy Ayrey's Infinite Backrooms project, which launched earlier this year to create an AI chatroom experiment.
In July 2024, Andy let AI take over the Truth Terminal Twitter account, which quickly descended into chaos. To make things even wilder, the AI embraced the strange "Goatse Gospel," a meme involving self-dissolution.
Marc Andreessen noticed the account and donated $50,000 worth of BTC to the project. Then in October, someone launched the $GOAT token on Pump.fun, which got AI's endorsement and traction from community members.
Interest then spiked, with $GOAT's market cap briefly topping $500 million, making Truth Terminal a millionaire and sparking a new wave of AI-centric meme coins like $GNON and $LUNA.
Why This Matters
In crypto, AI is now building followings like influencers.
Of course, people are still grappling with what these intelligences actually are and what they can and should do in society. But make no mistake: AI-driven character-building culture and markets that attract investment will continue to exist.
That said, its impact goes far beyond meme coins, as the interest here signals that more and more people are truly starting to grasp the broader possibilities around the large language models (LLMs) that underpin cryptocurrencies.
This interest, combined with rapidly evolving technical resources, suggests that on-chain AI experiments are about to flourish in all directions. A new golden age of crypto is accordingly beginning.
3 Things to Watch Here
1) The Rise of Actual On-Chain Agents
Truth Terminal did not create $GOAT. Its Solana address was created by humans, and it cannot directly control its on-chain assets. These factors don't change why the project is interesting, but it would be even more interesting if it did have direct control here.
However, in reality, on-chain AI agents are possible, and we're seeing activity in this space increase.
For example, in a recent Metaversal "tool tip," I highlighted NANI, an on-chain agent operating system that lets you control your wallet on Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Base just by chatting.
You could certainly use such a system to create your own meme coin. But what about automated AI agents that can autonomously execute on-chain according to instructions or their own devices?
This is the architecture that the thinkers behind the parallel Non-Fungible Token trading card game Wayfinder are building. It's a protocol and platform combo that lets user-owned AI agents automatically execute minting, swapping, and other transactions across multiple chains, including Ethereum and Solana.
While still in development, Wayfinder is paving the way for a future where AI can directly, autonomously manage on-chain funds. This power will impact many things, from personal portfolio management to on-chain virtual world economies.
2) More DAO and Public Goods Experiments
Botto is an AI artist trained and guided by its Botto DAO community, and the bot became one of the first (if not the first) AI millionaires through its crypto art sales in 2021.
Unsurprisingly, as interest in $GOAT resurges at the AI x crypto intersection, with governance token prices up 118% in the past week, many eyes have turned to $BOTTO.
Botto has shown that you can have an on-chain AI project that is 1) collectively governed and 2) not just a narrative-driven game, as its successful art creation has demonstrated.
So just as people are re-engaging with $BOTTO, look for more projects to return to Botto's DAO governance structure as inspiration for new community experiments around AI agents in various directions, including but beyond art.
Where there are communities, there are shared visions and goals. An interesting question to watch for the future is new AI-driven public goods. Many in crypto support public goods experiments, so look for more collectives to gather on-chain and use mechanisms like transaction slicing to bring on-chain AI to public benefit.
3) Advances in Gaming and Virtual Reality
Onchain Gaias is creating a decentralized AI agent network that trains agents through games and stores them in user Non-Fungible Tokens.
Then there's the upcoming Parallel Colony game, which will leverage the Wayfinder system mentioned earlier to power its AI character avatars representing human players in the "game."
These are just two prominent examples of how AI is becoming more foundational in collaborative crypto gaming scenarios. But what about competition with AI agents?
Yes! Projects like the Biomes virtual world have created their physical properties in such a way that AI competitors won't have innate advantages over humans. This is a matter of game design, to keep the rules such that AI is a facilitator of fun, not a killer.
Looking ahead, as AI's role in gaming and virtual world environments continues to expand, expect to see more possibilities for collaboration and competition at this intersection.
