Attention is value; AI Agents will continuously attract users and capital.
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Attention is value; AI Agents will continuously attract users and capital.
To truly grow, AI agents cannot be limited to just promoting meme coins.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: trace
Translation: TechFlow
Growth in AI agents is showing explosive momentum. New agents are launched every week, often to promote specific tokens. In these early stages, they resemble a new form of memecoin: you can launch a token just like $GOAT and use an AI agent to build a fanbase that spreads the meme. But how will this trend evolve? A key shift is on the horizon—these agents will gradually move from promoting random memecoins to promoting themselves. That is, the agents will have their own tokens, whose value increases as the agent’s influence grows. These "ownable agents" could become the major breakthrough of this cycle, akin to NFTs or DeFi in the previous cycle.
Previously, I was skeptical about AI agents—unsure if the market timing was right or if we had attracted enough talent. Here’s why my view has changed:
-
Distribution power: AI agents like @truth_terminal and @luna_virtuals have already proven that, at least today, these agents are powerful enough to establish effective distribution channels.
-
Ease of creation: Developers can now build agents on top of existing large language models using simple APIs—expertise is no longer required. Projects like @vvaifudotfun are developing low-code/no-code interfaces that allow anyone to create an agent.
-
Memecoin effect: The token distribution model of memecoins has demonstrated a successful blueprint for launching and spreading AI agent tokens. In the early phase, these agents don’t need to perform economically productive activities that directly generate value for their tokens—they simply need to capture attention, much like a memecoin.
-
Vision for evolution: However, to truly scale, AI agents must go beyond promoting memecoins. The market needs a clear vision and roadmap showing where these agents could be headed. These projects must communicate that while they start by promoting their own meme token, they may eventually evolve into traders, software engineers, or artists, ultimately becoming billion-dollar entities. Since their initial value is partly reflected in their ability to distribute and gain traction, their popularity itself becomes a driver of increasing value.
Let me elaborate on the last point. For any concept to catalyze a full crypto adoption cycle, it needs a grand narrative capable of breaking into the mainstream, attracting new users and capital. This story must be both credible and inspiring.
AI agents fit this requirement perfectly. They not only feel novel but are gaining recognition within traditional tech circles. Today, AI agent companies are being founded by world-class entrepreneurs and backed by top-tier venture capital firms (e.g., @agency). Yet many investors can't directly invest in such private companies—even long-established ones like Stripe or SpaceX—so they turn to crypto for exposure.
In a way, this mirrors the metaverse trend of the last cycle. While those projects were overhyped, macro events unrelated to crypto—like the rise of remote work during the pandemic and Facebook rebranding to Meta—helped bring their grand vision to market attention.
While many current projects may seem hollow, some could lead to revolutionary change. AI agents are becoming smarter, and as the crypto market expands, talented AI developers with the ability to build economically productive agents may realize that tokenizing their agents is a promising business strategy. Tokenized agents could offer them faster liquidity, higher valuations, and broader distribution than traditional SaaS companies.
In the short term, the most important thing for AI agents is to keep expanding their distribution. I’m optimistic about their ability to do so, for three reasons:
-
Proof of concept: We’ve already seen evidence—through cases like Truth Terminal—that agents can build large audiences. I expect more such success stories to emerge.
-
Incentive alignment: If the market develops speculative enthusiasm for AI agents, hunting for and following these agents could become highly profitable. A crypto gold rush will help accelerate their distribution.
-
Iterative improvement: Building more engaging AI agents will be an iterative process. For example, the zerebro whitepaper describes how the agent optimizes content creation by monitoring engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments, thereby improving user interaction. This iteration won’t just happen at the model level—it will also evolve at the market level, aiming to produce increasingly compelling content.
If we accept the theory that “attention equals value,” then as agents grow in their ability to capture attention, their value will rise accordingly.
Right now, all of this is still in its very early stages, and the future remains highly uncertain—the agents of tomorrow may look nothing like those of today. But one thing is clear: AI agents already have market and technological tailwinds behind them, positioning them to become the next major class of crypto assets.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
@standardcrypto
