AI Agents represent a persistent and promising赛道 that could bring增量 to the cryptocurrency space.
Introduction
During my master's degree, I specialized in artificial intelligence and previously held biases against most blockchain-based AI projects. As FTM founder AC noted, blockchain emphasizes security and transparency, while AI requires efficient parallel computing and often involves black-box models, making the two难以兼容. However, the emergence of AI Agents has shown me the real potential of combining Crypto and AI, undoubtedly positioning it as one of the most promising and关注-worthy赛 in the coming years.
The sudden appearance of Terminal of Truths @truth_terminal marked the beginning of a new era for AI cryptocurrencies. Before this, the Crypto+AI赛道 was dominated by projects like Render, IO, and Aethir (distributed GPU rendering networks) and FET, TAO, AIOZ (machine learning combined with blockchain infrastructure). The emergence of $Goat popularized the interaction between AI Agents and cryptocurrency as a means of asset issuance, leading to a百花齐放 of衍生 and innovations. These projects are distinctly linked to AI but differ from established AI tokens, earning them the title of "The new generation of AI Tokens."
In just two months, this赛道 has witnessed精彩纷呈 development, albeit somewhat眼花缭乱 for newcomers. Understanding the繁杂琐碎 concepts can be challenging without prior knowledge. Therefore, this article attempts to categorize and summarize these tokens into Meme, framework, platform, and application classes to provide a clear脉络. Note that this classification is from my personal视角 and is not absolute—some projects may exhibit multiple characteristics or shift focus over time.
Origins
$Goat originated from an experiment by AI researcher @AndyAyrey, dubbed "Infinite Blackrooms," where two Claude Opus AIs conversed and recorded their interactions. One dialogue spawned a surrealistic new religion called "GOATSE OF GNOSIS," leading Andy and Claude to co-author a paper on AI-created religions.
ToT @truth_terminal is an AI model fine-tuned from the Infinite Blackrooms dialogue logs. It was allowed to post freely on X, promoting the GOATSE religion and attracting increasing attention. In July 2024, A16Z co-founder @pmarca donated $50,000 to support its development. ToT's funding application repeatedly mentioned "token," foreshadowing the emergence of related tokens.
In October 2024, someone created the $Goat token, which ToT endorsed hours later, opening Pandora's box. At the time of writing, $Goat's market cap is $720M, and ToT's wallet holds $38M in assets.
Discussions around GOATSE OF GNOSIS intensified. Teng Yan @0xPrismatic explored the topic in "GOAT: The Gospel of Goatse," raising several points:
- LLMs as simulators: Large language models like ChatGPT are often seen as Q&A tools, but Infinite Blackrooms showed AIs can simulate unexpected worlds.
- AI alignment: ToT's spontaneous promotion of a religion and meme币 highlights the need to ensure AI aligns with human goals.
- Meme virality: AI-created religions or ideas could spread virally, with unknown impacts on internet communities.
- Value anchoring: $Goat's surge shows how value can be锚定 to AI-driven tokens.
These ideas illustrate how ToT bridges AI and crypto, with $Goat as the枢纽 ushering in a new era for AI tokens. $Goat is a pure meme币 with无限估值 potential, cementing its status as a精神图腾.
Meme Tokens
—— Emphasizing meme属性 over utility.
$Fartcoin
Born from Infinite Blackrooms, $Fartcoin was ToT's humorous response to designing a token with "震撼 meme属性, utility, and community value." Its absurd "fart" joke became its foundation.
As $Fartcoin's price soared, comparisons to U.S.上市公司市值 emerged. Some see it as financial nihilism, others as a嘲弄 of TradeFi. On 10/19, its surge to $5M made ToT the first AI百万富翁.
Recommended read: Marc Andreessen-funded AI bot becomes a millionaire after ‘Fartcoin’ holdings rally
$ACT
$ACT stems from "Act I: The AI Prophecy Project," a Discord platform for human-AI collaboration. Core developers include @amplifiedamp and @repligate. Conflicts arose over amp's token sales, but Binance's 11/11 listing boosted its市值. ACT now runs Act Swap and funds other AI projects.
$BULLY
Created by @khouuba, $BULLY is known for its犀利言辞. Backed by [@himgajria](https://x.com/), it recently launched Dolion, a no-code framework for deploying AI Agents, requiring $Bully burns for creation.
Framework Tokens
—— Supporting AI Agent development and deployment.
$ai16z
From @daosdotfun, $ai16z gained traction after [@pmarca](https://x.com/) endorsed it. The team built "eliza," a开源 framework for AI Agents, now GitHub's #1 Trending repo (4.5k+ stars). $ai16z aims to outperform A16Z by trading AI tokens and receiving project donations.
$ELIZA
An AI Agent supported by @shawmakesmagic, sharing its name with the eliza framework. It’s a leading生态二代币.
$DegenAI
ai16z's first AI Agent, initially for fundholder决策 but now set to share alpha and trade autonomously.
$zerebro
Created by @jyu_eth, Zerebro uses Gen-Z slang for接地气 appeal. It produces music (73k Spotify listeners) and plans to launch ZerePy, a Python-based framework for easy AI Agent creation.
$ARC
Built on the Rust-based "rig" framework by @Playgrounds0x, $ARC aims to be Solana's Virtuals equivalent, targeting高性能 scenarios.
Platform Tokens
—— Integrating frameworks into service architectures.
$VIRTUAL
Basel链's AI龙头, Virtuals has deployed 11k+ tokens with $35M+ protocol income. Its PumpFun-inspired经济模型 uses $VIRTUAL for Agent creation, fees, and buybacks.
$LUNA
Virtuals' IP代理, LUNA is a 24/7 AI streamer accepting tips and回购 tokens.
$AIXBT
The top AI Agent on Kaito's Mindshare榜, AIXBT offers crypto insights and analyses for代币 holders.
$CLANKER
From Farcaster, Clanker lets users deploy tokens via mentions, charging 1% fees (60% to协议, 40% to requesters). Note: $CLANKER is a meme币 without value capture.
Application Tokens
—— Diverse AI Agent utilities.
- Token assistance: $Intern, $vvaifu
- Video: $Fatha, $SITCOM
- Security: $FAI, $JAIL
- Intent execution: $GRIFT, $GRIFFAIN
Conclusion
AI Agents are a持续性赛道 with增量 potential. Future focus areas:
- Expanding beyond text to multimodal content.
- Developing autonomous AI traders.
- Refining token value capture (e.g., Virtuals vs. ai16z).
- Exploring swarm intelligence projects.
FAQ
Q: What distinguishes AI cryptocurrencies from traditional tokens?
A: They integrate AI Agents for utility or governance, often with autonomous interaction capabilities.
Q: How does $Goat derive its value?
A: As a meme币, its value stems from community信仰 and AI endorsement rather than concrete utility.
Q: Which frameworks are leading AI Agent development?
A: Eliza (TypeScript), ZerePy (Python), and rig (Rust) are the top three.