Author: Dappradar
Translated by: Felix, PANews
Since the beginning of 2025, on-chain activities related to AI have surged by 86%, with daily active unique wallets (dUAW) reaching approximately 4.5 million. This has brought AI's dominance to 19%, just behind gaming's 20%. Considering its market share was only 9% at the beginning of the year, this is a significant change.
This explosive growth is not just hype; it reflects a structural change in how users interact with dApps. Whether through DeFi, social agents, or autonomous game assistants, AI agents are becoming the new on-chain interaction layer. They are not replacing users but expanding them, enabling automation, optimization, and interaction on behalf of users.
Data confirms this claim: AI has dominated Web3 discussions over the past month and is likely to define the direction of its next phase. This report explores the development trajectory of AI agents, application scenarios, the role of tokens, and the scale of capital supporting this transformation.
Key Points
- In June, AI's on-chain dominance rose from 9% in January to 19%, with transaction activity growing by 86% and daily active unique wallets reaching 4.5 million.
- As of June 2025, AI agent projects have raised $1.39 billion, a 9.4% increase from the total funding in 2024.
- Since November 2024, 17,124 agents have been launched on Virtuals Protocol, with an average of over 85 new agents added daily.
- Although the market cap of AI tokens has dropped 64% from its early June peak, it currently stands at $5.9 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume of $1.4 billion.
- Europe (26.2%) and Asia (21.9%) are the regions with the most AI dApp usage, followed by North America (15.8%).
1. What are AI Agents?
AI agents are autonomous software programs capable of performing tasks, making decisions, or interacting with users based on objectives, prompts, or real-time data. Traditional AI agents cover industries like finance, healthcare, or customer service, while the Web3 ecosystem is giving birth to crypto-native agents with unique capabilities and roles.
In Web3, AI agents are moving towards specialization. Some act as on-chain DeFi agents, executing trades, managing yield strategies, or serving as portfolio "managers". Others are social agents representing users in decentralized social applications, managing profiles, and even responding to messages and interactions. In gaming, a new class of native game agents has emerged - AI companions trained on game backgrounds, mechanics, or player behaviors, serving as useful guides or even opponents.
This is not just theoretical. According to data from cookie.fun tracking the agent economy, there are currently 1,748 active AI agents across various environments. Since its launch in November 2024, Virtuals Protocol, which allows users to create and deploy their own AI agents, has already launched over 17,000 agents. The actual number may be even higher, as multiple chains are currently prioritizing infrastructure for AI agent creation, training, and deployment.
The agent economy is taking shape and developing rapidly.
2. AI Agent Tokens: Utility, Hype, and Capital
In Web3, most AI agents are not launched independently but come with tokens. The role of these tokens depends on the project's vision and can serve multiple functions. In many cases, they are designed to support community governance, provide access to advanced features, or serve as a fundraising mechanism, especially when training and maintaining AI agents still requires significant resources.
For others, tokens are merely a capitalization strategy - a way to gain liquidity, reward early adopters, or leverage market momentum. In some cases, they are more like meme coins dressed in an AI narrative, issued around vague agent narratives, lacking technical substance, and riding the wave of speculative fervor.
Despite the market noise, the AI agent token market has made remarkable progress. As of this writing, the total market cap of AI-related tokens reached $5.9 billion, representing 0.18% of the entire crypto market. The 24-hour trading volume is also substantial, exceeding $1.4 billion.
However, the recent trend is not optimistic. At the beginning of this month, the market cap in the AI agent field was $16.6 billion, meaning the sector has shrunk by 64% in just a few weeks. This decline reflects broader market conditions rather than just attitudes towards AI. But it also demonstrates the volatility of early-stage domains where token hype often exceeds actual utility.
AI agents are here to stay. But their tokens?
(Translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text)As of 2025, AI agent projects have raised $1.39 billion, growing by 9.4% compared to 2024. This indicates that investors are increasingly convinced that autonomous on-chain agents could become the next frontier. Although this figure is still far lower than investments in centralized AI, it is noteworthy that AI agent funding is now on par with or even surpasses other Web3 sub-sectors like blockchain games.
This contrast is significant. Centralized AI investments still dominate, with billions of dollars flowing into model development, chips, and infrastructure. However, in the Web3 realm, investors are increasingly viewing AI agents as a new "primitive" that can reshape user interactions with protocols, DApp navigation, and even automate personal financial strategies.
This momentum is building. If this trend continues, 2025 could be the year AI agents attract more funding than any other Web3 vertical.
6. Conclusion
The rise of AI agents marks a profound transformation in how users interact with decentralized systems. From DeFi traders and social partners to native game assistants, agents are rapidly evolving from experimental bots to infrastructure.
These figures confirm this. Since the end of 2024, over 17,000 virtual agents have gone online. Even in a sluggish market, the AI token market size has reached $5.9 billion and continues to grow. This year alone, agent-focused startups have raised $1.39 billion. Moreover, user engagement is global, showing strong performance in Europe, Asia, and North America.
However, challenges remain. Many tokens are driven more by hype than utility. Not all agents can deliver on the promise of autonomy. Additionally, cross-chain infrastructure remains uneven. But as tools mature and practical use cases proliferate, the agent economy is approaching a new baseline where interaction with on-chain AI is not the exception, but the norm.
The competition to build smarter agents, more powerful ecosystems, and clearer standards is already underway. And it is still in its early stages.
Related Reading: In-depth Exploration of AI Agents: What's Next After the Hype?
