Two years ago, the metaverse land project Hyperfy launched a surprise token release this morning, reaching a market capitalization of $280 million within 10 hours of launch, with a daily trading volume of $80 million.
In the rapidly developing AI Agent market, the grand vision inevitably leads people to compare it to the previous metaverse concept. Trends are a cycle, and the market is the same, going round and round, back to the metaverse concept being reactivated by AI. Although it has been mentioned countless times and failed countless times, the market seems unwilling to let go of this cyberpunk-style future concept, as if there is an invisible hand pushing us endlessly towards that technological singularity. Is Hyperfy a new round of reheating the old dish, or is it the suitable soil for the revival of Metaverse under the support of AI?
AI-driven, the metaverse land projects of the NFT Summer return to the market
In the NFT Summer of 2022, a series of metaverse land and real estate projects emerged, such as Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, and Sandbox. Today, the market has seen the return of the former metaverse platform project - Hyperfy.
Hyperfy is a metaverse platform that aims to make it easy for anyone to create rich, immersive virtual worlds. Hyperfy can be used instantly through any web browser, including mobile and VR headsets like Meta Quest 3. Like other land-based projects, as long as you own its land, you can get ownership, and its built-in tools can create almost any scenario, such as galleries, venues, clubs, stores, portfolios, educational experiences, games, and leisure spaces. Users can directly import 2D and 3D NFTs from their wallets or add 3D models, images, audio, and video directly to the world, and everything that happens in this world is in real-time.
If it follows this path, it is not much different from other metaverse land projects, but the turning point occurred when it encountered ai16z. This morning, Hyperfy suddenly announced on Twitter that it has transformed from a metaverse platform into an immersive space platform empowered by AI agents, and has open-sourced all its tools and layers, integrating with the Eliza-architected AI Agent in the V2 version. This means that it has transformed from a metaverse into an infinite multiverse that can interact with Agents, a Sigama of AI Agents.
With the buying signals from Shaw's on-chain addresses, as well as the explicit promotional collaboration from multiple tweets by ai16z community members, the market's bullishness on this new concept has reached a peak, with the market capitalization continuously rising. Subsequently, a thread by ai16z DAO member jin revealed the true value of this project, as he and metamike had been helping Hyperfy refine the project documentation and provide several use cases over the past few months.
Scenario 1: AI Council
AI agents trained in working groups, different projects, or user case studies can discuss proposals and assist in decision-making, with V2 ready to integrate with ElizaOS.
Scenario 2: Stonk Exchange
You can directly watch the real-time trading of AI agents in a scenario similar to a stock exchange, and the real-time data on the screen plus the final optimization may be completed in a week.
Scenario 3: Interoperable Pets
tubbycatsnft is a CC0 NFT, and the team optimized all 20k 3D models last fall, which is a good container for small, locally prioritized models, and the optimized models are more suitable for the future VR version pet system of Hyperfy.
More scenarios: pmairca "parody Marc"'s conference room, a game show world with AI as judges, 3D data visualization "ai16z treasury wallet visualization", and crypto vending machines.
It is not difficult to imagine that the difference between this AI+Metaverse concept and the previous one is the addition of the AI Agent variable. This also makes the narrative more practical, as the current hardware technology cannot make the experience in the virtual world the same as in the real world. But for AI Agents, it is their own reality. On this platform, AI Agents can interact with AI Agents, and humans can interact with AI Agents in the most intuitive way, whereas before they were just data, code, or text and images. Compared to a vast Metaverse, Hyperfy's small worlds are more like the multiverse of AI Agents, which can satisfy your and the AI's imaginary world - an AI version of Figama.
Before the Hyperfy explosion, the founder Ash Connell had already released a token called Shaw on November 11th. After opening the Hyperfy platform, you can find the Milady image of Shaw actually existing in a world, and although real-time dialogue is not yet possible, the purpose is also clear - the upcoming V2 will actually showcase an AI Agent from the ai16z system as a case study.
On the other hand, besides the crazy screen-filling of Hyperfy-related content, Shaw also confessed his deep feelings for the mysterious community he has been in for several years - M3 "Metaverse Makers", which coincidentally has the same name as the American street slang "You know what I am saying". It's as if he's asking us, the audience, if we're ready to understand the engine or the greater vision they will bring to the 3D AI Agent world.
The Twitter banner of M3 prominently displays the names of a group of virtual characters, including Hyperfy's founder ASH, Jin who helped upgrade its product deck, and the excellent 3D artist 7OROY, among other well-known figures. It's hard not to notice the hint of a conspiracy to generate massive energy.
Whether they can bring true Metaverse with AI or another huge bubble, BlockBeats will continue to observe and track.
