Viewpoint: AI Agent is the redemption of all old narratives in Crypto history
The market always needs the presence of idealists.Author: Haotian
Whenever I write articles about AI + Crypto, there are always voices asking, does AI need Crypto? What else is there in Crypto besides Gambling? It's hard for you to imagine what it means to someone who firmly believes in "technological narrative + long-termism" to hear such seemingly correct yet unnutritious statements.
1) I don't want to retort because if we base it on the logic of "only making money," not only AI but also many narratives that emerged in previous cycles, such as DeFi, NFT, Gamfi, and Metaverse, have not achieved the expected results; the speculative elements far outweigh the actual application value. So when you say AI doesn't need Crypto at all, or even that all narratives are for Gambling, I really find it hard to argue against that.
2) AI is a historical leap in human internet technology; it has completely changed the way users interact with the internet, from keyboard input to natural language understanding and proactive prediction of needs, greatly expanding the upper limit of human productivity. Therefore, AI is a historical opportunity that spans all industries, including web2, web3, and traditional sectors. Why is everyone trying to ride the AI wave, but Crypto cannot? Moreover, the restructuring of production relationships in Crypto, such as computing power, algorithms, and data, can indeed meet and supplement the inherent deficiencies of AI in the web2 environment.
It can only be said that AI is still in the innovative exploration phase, and AI Agent applications have not yet become a necessity in the lives of the general public, so the "optional" innovation is just budding. The optimization of production relationships contributed by Crypto feels too advanced, making it seem somewhat redundant. But this is not the case; some AI Agent applications in vertical fields involving privacy cannot be driven without Crypto.
3) I have always advocated that AI Agent is a collective redemption of all old narratives in Crypto's history. Why? The core lies in the fact that AI Agent is directly application-oriented, much like many online-to-offline models conceived during the era of internet portals that only truly released their potential after the widespread adoption of mobile internet and smartphones.
In my view, AI Agent represents the "mobile internet application moment" for Crypto. Only when AI Agents are fully popularized can the various visions outlined by Crypto, such as distributed data contributions, distributed computing power aggregation, distributed traceability incentives, and distributed DePIN edge computing, truly be realized. At that time, many old narratives like ZK, modularity, chain abstraction, BTCFi, layer2, etc., will find their true utility.
Because if the chain infrastructure's block rent-seeking entities are AI Agents fine-tuned by everyone, then the decentralized, transparent, and secure consensus architecture of the chain can truly realize the interconnectivity value of AI Agents, which is a height that cannot be achieved solely by AI technological innovations at the web2 level. Just like even now, there are still people criticizing decentralized consensus as meaningless, but everyone can see the slight penetration of Crypto into institutions and national powers in fields like DeFi and RWA; there is no need to discuss it anymore.
I fully agree with and understand the diversity of the Crypto world; whether short-termism or long-termism, they are just different pursuits of you and me. Of course, the ways of receiving rewards and punishments are also different. Although, in the short term, long-termists may feel hurt, even in a ridiculous and chaotic high-PVP market, the existence of a group of "A Q" who are well-versed in the spirit of victory is still necessary.
Because the market always needs the presence of idealists.
