Many people are puzzled, why did PHAsuddenly become a sensation? To put it abstractly, even Phala Network may not have expected to become the chosen one overnight. Because the PHA craze has both contingency and necessity, and it is not something that any overt or covert plan can bring about. There are three key points:
TEE technology has been well prepared, ai16z's big leg has been embraced, and the AI Agent trend is just right:
1) The cultivation of Phala Network in TEE technology is the "necessity" that led to this event. Why is that?
TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) is not a new concept, but in the mainstream crypto technology narrative of the past few years, it has always been a "niche". For example, there have been many high-performance chains that compete on the advantages of languages like RUST and MOVE, and there has also been a wave of ZK technology with ZK as the main theme. TEE and encryption technologies like MPC, FHE, and Blind Compute have occasionally appeared in the differentiated positioning of individual projects, but they are completely on a different level from the popular ZK.
In fact, while mainstream chains are focusing on the efficiency of "block space" usage (MEV, TPS, Gas, etc.), ZK technology is only applied to the initial-level trusted state changes between layer1 and layer2, and the advantages of ZK technology in deeper areas like zkVM virtual machine underlying, zkSNARKs iterative chain data structure, etc. have not yet come into play, let alone the realization of large-scale Mass Adoption.
The main reason is that the previous technological narrative has been pursuing a pure "on-chain" environment, and ZK is the first step in separating off-chain computation and on-chain verification, but the ultimate goal is still to serve the "on-chain". The trusted execution environment of TEE is naturally the "pre-processing" process of the "off-chain" secure enclave environment.
It can serve the on-chain, and is also the result of the gradual expansion of the new narrative of Pre-confirmation brought by leading projects like Unichain and Flashbot. In other words, without being combined with the chain, TEE is simply a mature Web2 technology, but when combined with the chain, it can bring useful applications such as trusted pre-processing and isolated privacy computing.
Therefore, those who dare to apply TEE technology to the blockchain field must have the patience to withstand loneliness, and also have unique and wise insights. In this regard, Phala Network undoubtedly has a mature TEE solution.
2) What Phala Network didn't expect was that a mysterious client called "ai16z" suddenly emerged and adopted its TEE solution, which is the biggest "contingency" factor in the PHA craze.
After seeing the news that AI-Pool's Official Twitter announced the self-issuance of AI Agent tokens, I immediately posted a technical analysis of the TEE solution (TEE can enable AI to autonomously manage private keys and sign applications in a usable but invisible secure enclave environment), as well as the historic opportunities that Phala and ai16z's collaboration may have stepped on. (This is also an excellent entry point for most retail investors).
The super commercial IP status of ai16z in the AI Agent track is self-evident. The fact that AI-Pool has adopted Phala's TEE solution at least indicates two things:
1. Phala's TEE solution has many mature commercial cases and has been chosen by ai16z;
2. Phala's TEE solution will be the first to benefit from the commercial grand vision of the AI Agent token issuance craze.
Understanding this, it is natural to understand what Phala can harvest from the phenomenal event of AI-Pool's self-issuance of AI Agent tokens. A very natural logic is that as the AI Agent token issuance craze continues to drive, the key management and remote authentication services provided by TEE will become a "must-have" business, and the entire set of on-chain verifiable consensus adapted to the TEE off-chain environment will become a bonus, which can be said to be the new infrastructure of the AI Agent era.
So, even if I don't really understand Phala Network by buying PHA, I think I understand better the market potential and incremental opportunities that may be unleashed by AI Agent + TEE and AI Agent + Chain.
3) What really gave Phala Network the push was the current hot AI Agent narrative. I have pinned multiple articles on my Twitter Profile highlights revolving around the AI Agent narrative, and new followers can take a look, where the words between the lines say "don't miss it, don't miss it, don't miss it".
Because AI Agent has evolved from AI MEME, to the emergence of platforms like Virutual and Vvaifu, to the emergence of individual AIs like AIXBT and Zerebro, to the emergence of frameworks and standards like ELIZA and ARC, until old chains like Phala are blown into the wind, everything is evolving rapidly, beyond everyone's imagination. Why?
For one reason, because this is a historic great opportunity, a main wave of the level of DeFi Summer. The outburst of innovative gameplay, the hunger for hot money, the opportunities in information asymmetry, etc. in this process are destined to always be "scorching hot".
That's why I've been shouting the slogan so loudly, just hoping that more retail investors can grab the Alpha growth opportunities in it, and more project parties can get out of the "powerless delivery" dilemma of the old VC coin narrative.
A new narrative tornado is blowing, the purpose of which is not just to blow dust in your face (chicken feathers), but to send you to the wind, to become that rich little piglet.
By the way, the subtext of this paragraph is that you don't need to worry about missing out on PHA, because Phala is just one of the players in the wind, the first to reap the trend dividends, believe that following the evolution logic and direction I have combed, there will definitely be more opportunities to come.
