Author: @Defi0xJeff
Compiled by: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: The article evaluates multiple crypto AI projects in terms of ecosystem building, product iteration, community distribution, and token value, believing that Virtuals is the strongest in maintaining speed and heat, while CreatorBid, though slow in execution, has a clear vision focused on the Bittensor intelligent agent ecosystem with promising long-term potential. The overall AI agent track is still in its early stages, with future focus potentially shifting to infrastructure and real consumption scenarios.
The following is the original content (slightly edited for readability):
It has been about 7 months since the AI Agent wave began. This wave initially started with the birth of @truth_terminal ➙ @pmarca invested in it ➙ someone issued a token for it ➙ it began promoting the token ➙ @virtuals_io launched an agent tokenization platform ➙ AIDOL and conversational agent stages emerged ➙ alpha agent stage, @aixbt_agent rose ➙ framework stage, @elizaOS (formerly ai16z) initiated an open AI developer movement ➙ small-scale AI x game attempts (but no survivors) ➙ DeFAI stage (vision remains strong, but execution is lacking)
This is roughly a summary of the main stages of the AI Agent track.
Emerging from these stages are a few reliable AI agent teams - they remain active, continuously launching new products and features (though mainly sustained by early accumulated transaction fee income).
Most importantly, some ecosystems remain resilient, supporting developers, helping product ideas start from scratch, and driving AI products and tokens from conception to successful launch.
The Role of Ecosystem Leaders
These ecosystem leaders provide extremely valuable support:
- Possess a powerful distribution network that can bring attention to your token and project;
- Provide product/service integration with the ecosystem core (targeting potential users);
- Offer guidance and incubation services from 0 to 1 and then to 10;
- Support your ideas through investment and funding.
In the Web3 AI field, ecosystem leaders remain the core pillar. Because community is the core component of the crypto world - the community is key to whether a token can form network effects (unlike traditional SaaS models that rely on subscription fees, Web3 projects depend on tokens to incentivize participation, accelerate growth, and user adoption).
In the past 7 months, we've seen multiple ecosystem leaders rise and fall. But those still active have stood out in the following aspects:
- Positioned as an AI Agent app store where developers/users can access Web2 and Web3 services to enhance or automate their workflows - @arcdotfun
- Building an economy where autonomous agents trade with each other (and with humans) - @virtuals_io
- Leading the largest Web3 open AI movement - @elizaOS
- Combining Bittensor's subnet intelligence with AI Agent workflows to attract more people to the @opentensor (Bittensor) ecosystem - @creatorbid
This article will objectively analyze each ecosystem's strengths, who is leading, who is lagging, and so on.
We will analyze from the following perspectives:
- Product and Distribution
- AI/Intelligence Level
- Development Speed
- Token Value Capture
Without further ado, let's look at the first aspect:
Product and Distribution
In Web3, tokens are often viewed as a product themselves. But in this article, we define "product" as goods or services that meet actual user needs.
In the Web3 AI field, most products revolve around "financialization" - tools and intelligent services that help people make money, such as Alpha terminals, dialogue agents expressing project sentiment, agents that trade or predict, aiming to beat the market, and so on.
Product success largely depends on "distribution". Typically, it's 90% distribution + 10% technical architecture. Few in the industry care about which AI Agent model you use; they care more about whether its output is stable and whether the insights and alpha it shares are truly useful.
(Translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text)
Bittensor remains the largest ecosystem with the most diverse intelligent models, and @CreatorBid is the only one truly dedicated to combining Bittensor subnet intelligence with AI Agent / Agentic workflows.
This team performs poorly in distribution (slow in launching new agents and iterating), but has a clear goal in "firmly supporting Bittensor". (They haven't officially announced it yet, but may launch a subnet called SN98 Creator to further incentivize building agentic workflows based on Creatorbid and going online.)
Development Speed / User Growth / Project Launch Rhythm
In Web3, if you're building a long-term product, you must consider how to keep the community continuously engaged in the short to medium term.
If you can't "entertain" the community, the token price will often drop over time because no one wants to be trapped long-term. In contrast, the market favors projects that can continuously generate topics and build openly.
Virtuals is the strongest player in this aspect, with open development, quick problem-solving, actively listening to community feedback, and regularly releasing new features or narratives to maintain user interest while building their ACP. Additionally, they often have Genesis Launches for new users to participate.
Eliza ranks second in distribution capabilities, thanks to its developer network and collaborations with multiple L1 / L2 chains. Eliza is also the preferred framework when deploying agents on other chains (non-Solana). autodotfun also provides an easier launch path for projects.
Arc's Ryzome and Ryzome Canvas are in progress, and once released, they may drive ecosystem heat recovery and potentially activate more Forge project releases.
On the CreatorBid side, top agents have recently launched new features (though their valuation range hasn't changed much). CB may be preparing to launch an agent driven by a Bittensor subnet and go online with their own subnet. The overall pace is slow, and they hope to speed up in the future.
Token Value Capture
$VIRTUAL is currently the strongest token for value capture, serving as the primary currency for LP construction in the Virtuals ecosystem, and agents entering Virtuals also need to use it. The recent Genesis Launch introduced Virgen points, which will flow to $VIRTUAL and other ecosystem tokens, further enhancing $VIRTUAL's holding value.
$ai16z might be the second strongest. autodotfun has a daily trading volume of $2-3 million (still far lower than Virtuals and other platforms), with part of the fees used to buy back $ai16z. However, Eliza needs to quickly launch quality projects, especially those with a market cap over $10 million, otherwise attention will remain focused on Virtuals.
$arc's value capture comes from LP trading fees and future revenue streams generated by developers on Ryzome. However, this path is still in its early stages and needs time to materialize.
$BID has the most unique token mechanism because its circulating supply is lower than similar projects, and it can stimulate platform activity through token releases. But currently, these releases are not well utilized, with trading volume still low (between $10,000 to $50,000 daily).
Summary
Each of the above projects has its advantages, but in the short to medium term, "distribution capability" + "ability to attract speculative funds" (i.e., trading volume) are the most critical moats.
The key to system operation is whether they can continuously generate heat and attract players to keep betting in their "casino". In this aspect, Virtuals is currently the best-performing project.
Whether they can maintain this heat long-term and convert it into real product power is worth observing.
Although @CreatorBid's execution still needs improvement, I personally am most optimistic about them because their vision aligns with mine—bringing high-quality AI to the masses and truly commercializing agentic workflows.
Imagine: A continuously evolving trading signal system that consistently outperforms the market, then transformed into a fully automated trading Agent—this is the concept of the SN8 Proprietary Trading Network.
It's still the early stage of the market, and it's not yet clear who will ultimately win. More complex use cases are being handled by large teams outside the ecosystem, such as:
- @vana—focusing on data ownership
- @NousResearch—reinforcement learning
- @TheoriqAI—building a liquidity provision system
- @gizatechxyz—focusing on financial / stablecoin-related agents
In the future, how the leaders of the AI Agent ecosystem position themselves will determine whether they can seize growth opportunities in the next cycle. We may also see more DeAI infrastructure implementation, deeper decentralization of agent systems, and entrepreneurial opportunities across various layers of the technology stack.
Ultimately, speculative heat may shift from individual agent tokens to core infrastructure for building open AI systems. Perhaps we'll see truly consumer-facing AI products that create real income, rather than short-term speculative bubbles supported only by "degens trading back and forth".
