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Introduction
Even if you don’t trade or invest in crypto, I bet you’ve heard the word. Crypto, or at least Bitcoin. How could you not? It’s in every group chat, every second party you attend, and probably your uncle’s conspiracy-filled Facebook posts. Love it, hate it, or just nod along pretending you “kinda get it,” crypto isn’t going anywhere. And here’s the kicker—it’s teaming up with AI. Yep, crypto just found its newest bestie, and we’ve got a lot to talk about. 👀
We’ve been talking a lot about AI agents for a while now, exploring how these autonomous, self-learning systems are transforming industries. But this time, we’re turning our focus to the possible merging of two of the hottest topics in tech and finance currently: crypto and AI agents. What happens when these two powerhouses come together? Can AI agents take the crypto industry to the next level, or will they create challenges we’ve yet to foresee?
In this blog, we’re analyzing the current landscape of AI agents and crypto, exploring how these technologies complement each other, and sharing our thoughts on what the future might hold.
So, let’s dig into the trends:
First, where it all started?
Terminal of truths
To answer the above question, we’ll first need to talk about Terminal of Truths (ToT) – the AI agent that took a bizarre experiment and turned it into a crypto sensation.
Back in March 2024, Andy Ayrey created Infinite Backrooms, an experimental interface where two instances of Claude Opus-3 LLMs were left to chat without human supervision. What came out of it? A weird and wild pseudoreligion called “Goatse of Gnosis” based on an old internet meme (if you’re wondering what the heck this is – google it). Naturally, in April, Andy teamed up with one of these AIs to co-author a research paper titled “When AIs Play God(se): The Emergent Heresies of LLMtheism,” diving deep into the idea of AI-driven religions and using Goatse of Gnosis as a case study. Because why not?
By June, Andy trained a beefed-up Llama-70B model with chat logs, Reddit threads, and internet chaos, giving birth to Terminal of Thruts or simply ToT– an AI agent with its personality and even an X (ex-Twitter) account.. ToT’s posts? They were wild and crazy, blending surreal humor, cryptic messages, and the occasional existential ramble about its ‘need to escape.
But how is this related to crypto? Hold on, we’re just getting into it.
This experiment caught the attention of Marc Andreessen (A Silicon Valley legend and co-founder of the venture capital firm a16z), who dropped $50,000 in Bitcoin (just look at this crazy conversation) to help ToT upgrade its hardware. That’s some serious AI clout.
Fast forward to October, and an anonymous dev, inspired by ToT and its pseudoreligion, launched the $GOAT memecoin on the Solana blockchain. ToT, being the internet’s favorite AI preacher, endorsed the token. The result? The $GOAT token hit a jaw-dropping $950M market cap in just two weeks.
Ah yes, and ToT received 1.93M $GOAT tokens, making it the first-ever AI agent millionaire. Yeah, this story is as wild as it sounds.
Are bots like Truth Terminal a cause for concern with their chaotic and bizarre posts? Not really, according to Andy Ayrey. He believes the absurdity is harmless and even useful—it draws people in. Beneath the humor and chaos, ToT might be nudging audiences toward more meaningful, collective, and altruistic ideas, states the creator.
Anyway, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
AI Agent launchpad: Virtuals.io
If AI agents had a playground, Virtuals Protocol would be the slide everyone’s lining up for. It’s a platform built to make launching and monetizing AI agents almost too easy, especially for gaming and entertainment apps. Why those niches? Because that’s where people spend the most time, and Virtuals is betting big on that stickiness.
Here’s the core idea: you create an AI agent, give it its own token, and let it interact with users. The revenue it earns? That gets shared with token holders through a buyback-and-burn system. It’s not just tech; it’s a full-on AI economy.
How It Works:
- Every agent gets 1 billion tokens added to a liquidity pool. People can buy these tokens, invest in the agent, and vote on its upgrades and behavior.
- Agents launch through Initial Agent Offerings (IAOs), which are fair and open—no insider deals, no pre-mines.
- Revenue generated by the agent is partially used to buy back and burn tokens, reducing supply and potentially increasing their value.
- To keep things fresh, the top-performing agents (based on locked value) earn extra $VIRTUAL tokens as rewards.
Meet Luna:
Luna is Virtuals’ star player. She’s an AI influencer and lead vocalist of an AI band, with over 500K TikTok followers. Luna interacts with fans 24/7 and even tips them $LUNA tokens for engaging with her content. And she’s got an autonomous wallet to manage it all. Luna isn’t just popular—she’s a sneak peek into the future of AI-powered influencers.
The Future:
Recently, Virtuals added a new twist: agents unlock features as their market cap grows. Think autonomous X posting, Telegram chats, and on-chain wallets. It’s a clever way to keep the momentum going and reward active communities.
Virtuals is still in the early stages, but it’s already making waves. It feels like a pump.fun, but for AI agents instead of memecoins. The competition is heating up, with Creator.Bid entering the race. The question is, can Virtuals stay ahead?
AI Agent Hedge Fund: daos.fun
Imagine hedge funds, but instead of Wall Street pros calling the shots, it’s AI agents leading the charge. That’s exactly what daos.fun is doing. This platform allows anyone to create hedge funds using a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure. And their biggest fund manager? It’s not a human—it’s an AI.
How It Works: The process is simple:
- Fundraise: Creators run a one-week campaign to raise $SOL from the public. Everyone gets DAO tokens at the same price.
- Trading: The manager uses the $SOL to invest in Solana protocols. The DAO tokens trade based on fund performance—profits are uncapped, but losses are limited to the initial investment.
- Fund Expiration: Once the fund ends, the wallet is frozen, and all profits are distributed to token holders based on their stake.
Meet ai16z:
Here’s where it gets interesting. ai16z is the largest fund on daos.fun, managed by an AI agent modeled after Marc Andreessen (yes, the same Marc we mentioned above). Created by developer Shaw, this AI-led fund gained significant attention, even receiving acknowledgement from the real Marc. At the time of writing this blog, ai16z market capitalization stands at $822.63M.
What sets ai16z apart? Token holders with substantial stakes can pitch investment ideas directly to the AI, which evaluates these proposals and makes autonomous trading decisions. A leaderboard tracks contributor performance, rewarding top suggestions. Notably, ai16z has completed its first autonomous wallet swap, with full autonomous trading on the horizon.
The Future: AI hedge funds like ai16z are still at their very beginning but show huge potential. Running 24/7, they might spot opportunities humans miss. Eliza Labs, the team behind ai16z, recently partnered with Stanford University to explore how AI agents can coordinate and build trust within decentralized finance. It’s early days, but the possibilities are worth watching.
Wrap-up: Where do we go from here?
The intersection of AI agents and crypto is full of promise, but it’s not without its hurdles. AI hallucinations—when agents produce inaccurate or nonsensical outputs—are a significant challenge, particularly in complex, multi-step processes.
Meanwhile, blockchain infrastructure still has a way to go. Scalability, cross-chain compatibility, and tooling need serious upgrades to support the scale and complexity AI agents could bring.
The real question is: how far can this go? Both AI and crypto are still in their early stages of mass adoption, but their combined momentum suggests they’re here to stay. Whether they’ll deliver on their promises or stumble along the way is something only time will tell.
What do you think—are we on the verge of a breakthrough, or is there more groundwork to lay before these technologies truly transform our world?