The infinite possibilities and challenges brought by the AI agent track
In terms of the AI agent track, I think it is still early.In the article "From DeSci to AI Agents: Interpretation of Potential Tracks" published on December 6,
I listed several conditions that I believe are necessary for a potential track in this round of market:
It must have a strong ecological demonstration effect, to the extent that after reaching a certain stage, other ecosystems eagerly join the fray.
It must have benchmark projects, to the extent that every project attempting to establish this ecosystem will say, "We want to become the XXX coin of the XXX ecosystem."
Of course, it must also have a strong wealth effect, and this wealth effect cannot be limited to just one or two isolated cases; there should be a batch of projects that allow participants to earn considerable returns, forming a group effect. Additionally, this wealth effect should be sustainable for a period of time; it cannot be the case that one buys in yesterday, makes money today, and goes to zero tomorrow.
Finally, it is likely to be a new track. Because new tracks have not been tried before, even a slight new gameplay can trigger infinite imagination.
It now seems that the AI agent track increasingly meets these conditions.
Just last Friday, Virtuals (https://app.virtuals.io/), the largest AI agent financing platform in the Base ecosystem, saw its token VIRTUAL's circulating market cap/full market cap exceed $2 billion.
This market cap was achieved without the support of exchanges like Xuan, OK, or even its parent platform Coinbase.
In this context, this market cap ranks first among AI agent tokens and significantly leads other AI agent tokens (including meme coins initiated by AI agents).
Measured by market cap, it has already become a benchmark project in the AI agent track.
At the same time, a series of AI agent tokens funded or initiated by the Virtuals project have also seen a "rise" during this period, clearly forming a clustering effect.
Under this effect, other second-layer expansions of Ethereum, such as zkSync and Arbitrum, have also emerged with similar projects, and project parties have clearly stated on their Twitter that they want to develop their own AI agent platforms.
The AI agent track has clearly spread rapidly from the initial Solana and Base to other ecosystems.
During this time, when I checked information about AI agents on Twitter, I saw several very enlightening pieces of information, and my first instinct was to see which KOL shared it, only to find that they all came from the AI agent AIXBT.
At least for AIXBT, which was launched by the Virtuals platform, I believe it is no longer a meme coin, but has truly generated actual value and utility.
More importantly, this value is sustainable and developmental, unlike meme coins that rely purely on intermittent emotional drives.
I believe that cases like AIXBT are not isolated.
In the article on December 2, I shared some viewpoints expressed by the co-founder of the Virtuals platform during an interview. In that interview, he also mentioned that there are hundreds of AI agents poised to launch on the platform.
This number should be even higher now.
Even if many of these projects ultimately turn out to be bubbles, as long as a few more AI agents like AIXBT emerge that truly generate actual value and utility, the value and narrative space they bring should not be underestimated.
There is an article on Deep Tide that provides a detailed introduction to the current AI agent ecosystem. The link to the article is attached at the end.
This article lists many projects, but what I value more is its classification of each subfield within this ecosystem. For investors focusing on this ecosystem, paying attention to the projects mentioned is one aspect, but more importantly, it is to find the subfields that align with their tastes and expertise. Seeking opportunities within these subfields.
For investors, when we discover a potential new track, the highest returns naturally come from diving straight into the subfields we are most skilled at and understand, looking for small-cap, newly launched projects. But this carries high risks and high thresholds.
If one is uncertain about which specific projects are reliable, a simpler approach is to find trustworthy platforms. Because the judgment criteria of platforms are much simpler and easier to grasp. Compared to specific projects, while the returns on platform tokens may be smaller, the risks are also lower.
If a few more projects that can provide real services and value emerge in the AI agent track, I believe it really has the potential to become the main driving force of the upcoming market, with projects exceeding a market cap of $10 billion.
As for the AI agent track, I believe it is still in its early stages.
