Author: ABC Alpha DAO; Author: web3 Chinese

When I wrote this article, it was January 3, 2025. This is the 16th anniversary of the official birth of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has opened up a decentralized, 24/7, borderless and trusted digital world. But who are the natives of this digital world? In the past 16 years, there has been no answer that convinces most people.

Until 2024, Agent appeared in the Crypto world, and the answer began to become clear.

This article will explore three issues:

1. Is Crypto+Agent a short-term concept hype or an inevitable development trend?

2. What are the inseparable and complementary combinations of Crypto+Agent?

3. What stages of development will Crypto+Agent go through? What stage are you currently at?

1. Is Crypto+Agent a short-term concept hype or an inevitable development trend?

Before clarifying this issue, you need to first understand the differences between AI, AI large models, and Agents.

AI is a relatively general concept. All artificial intelligence, including machine learning, large models, and agents, belong to the category of AI.

Large models are a concept that has become popular in recent years with the explosion of OpenAI. Large models are currently occupied by technology giants, such as OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Twitter all have their own large models. The core of large models is computing power and data. The large model has powerful computing and reasoning capabilities. If you ask the large model a question, it can give you intelligent answers, and it can even continuously correct its own answers. However, large models cannot yet make autonomous decisions and executions on your behalf.

Agent's original meaning is "agent".

The essence is based on a large AI model that can replace people in making decisions And the "intelligent agent" that executes is the inevitable result of the development of a large model to a certain extent.

Note: Agents and intelligent applications are two concepts. An intelligent application is just an application, and people make decisions; while an agent is an AI agent with autonomous decision-making, autonomous execution, and continuous adaptation. You can Understand that the Agent is an AI person, and the Agent even has autonomous consciousness.

Note again: Agent is not only popular in the Crypto field, Agent is now the hottest research direction in the entire AI industry. Agent is an inevitable trend in the future development of AI and has become an industry consensus.

Open AI founder Sam Altman has mentioned on many public occasions that Agent is the most critical direction for the future development of AI, and AI Agent will change the way humans interact with technology. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently even proposed that Agent will end the era of traditional applications, and software development will be completely replaced by Agent (this is why AgentOS, which can easily deploy various Agent applications, is popular in the market). The AI ​​industry even calls 2024 the Agent Yuan. Year.

Therefore, the Agent wave is not a new concept in the Crypto industry, but human AI technology has developed to this stage, and it just so happens that the development routes of Agent and Crypto have a wonderful intersection at this moment.

After clarifying these basic concepts, we can better understand the essential difference between this wave of Crypto+Agent and the previous Crypto+AI.

Before, we have heard a lot about the concept of Crypto+AI, which is nothing more than distributed AI computing power network, distributed AI computing, distributed AI annotation, and decentralization However, after years of exploration, everyone has found that this approach is unworkable., Efficient and powerful AI large models are not built by distributed incentives. Distributed incentives will inevitably bring inefficiency, which runs counter to the goal of efficient productivity of AI.

Therefore, AI infrastructure such as large models pursues efficiency. It is far-fetched to combine it with Crypto, and it is difficult to form a real consensus.

However, the Agent based on the large AI model is an intelligent life, which is essentially a concept similar to "human". Agent can represent an individual, a certain role, a person with a certain professional ability, an organization with a specific intention, etc. For example, the investment research agent (#AIXBT, #TRISIGMA) is an intelligent agent with investment research capabilities, which can create and output investment research value; for example, the internet celebrity agent (#Luna) can provide brand marketing services; For example, investment Agent (Ai16Z) can provide external investment capabilities. These agents are more like "people". They are people and have various needs, such as development needs, social needs, economic needs, social needs, etc.

For example, commercial cooperation may occur between these agents. For example, the investment agent Ai16Z wants to hire the Internet celebrity agent Luna to promote Ai16Z’s investment capabilities and brand to more agents. Then, Luna wants to hire the investment research agent AIXBT or TRISIGMA to promote Ai16z. The investment capabilities of the agents are investigated and analyzed, and reports are given. So, how do they conduct business cooperation and complete payment settlement?

Currently, which organization or organization can authenticate the Agent’s ID card or even open an asset account to meet the above needs of the Agent?

No, no one or organization can do this, and even if they do it, it will be difficult to gain the trust of the Agent. Even if they can Achieve local trust, but agents like agents are naturally borderless, so they need a borderless identity system, asset account and settlement network that operates 7*24 hours and is free from human intervention. .

You will find that no technology or organization can solve these problems of Agent, except Crypto.

Agent is an intelligent agent, a newly born "intelligent life". It can be understood that it is a "silicon-based person". They will have various problems in the future. For independent needs and business dealings, they also need identities, asset accounts, trade settlements, etc. Crypto can perfectly solve these needs of Agent.

Therefore, if the Agent does not have Crypto, these "silicon people" will have no independent identity, no asset accounts, and no ability to do business. Agents and people, Agents and Agents cannot truly interact. Agents are independent individuals, unable to truly communicate and integrate together, nor can they emerge with higher wisdom and give birth to a more prosperous AI economy or even an AI country.

Therefore, Agent cannot do without Crypto, because Crypto gives Agent social attributes and social organization capabilities, making Agent a truly intelligent life form , that is, becoming a true "silicon-based person". The future development of Crypto is also inseparable from Agent. Because Agent can create countless "on-chain users" and "on-chain economies" for Crypto. Compared with the carbon-based life that lives off the chain - human beings, Crypto is more inseparable from the silicon-based life that naturally lives on the chain. Life - Agent. ‍

Crypto seems to be prepared for Agent!

Crypto has been developing for 16 years, and finally found the right "people" in 2024. They are not "carbon-based people" living off the chain. People”, but “silicon-based people” native to the chain.

So, looking at Crypto+Agent from this perspective, do you still think that Agent is just a short-term hype?

Miss this wave of Crypto+Agent, and you will miss the most exciting, fascinating and wealth-producing super market on the road to Crypto development. Cycle, of course, you also missed the best opportunity for ordinary people to participate in the AI ​​wave.

2. Crypto and Agent are inseparable and complement each other

You put AAgent is understood as "intelligent agent" or "silicon-based people". These silicon-based people live in the digital world. They have the same needs in the digital world as "carbon-based people" in the physical world. Agents also need: identity authentication. , need asset accounts, need trade transactions, need social networks, need artistic creation, need to perceive information from the physical world, need to complete asset settlement between various chains, need social governance among many Agent populations, etc.

And in these aspects, Crypto can play a role:

In the future, DID will be generated in the Crypto field to authenticate Agents; Agents will provide trusted Crypto accounts to Agents. Account; a Crypto gateway that specializes in trade settlement between Agents; an Agent social graph that specializes in processing Agent social networks; an art platform that specializes in auctioning and trading Agent art works; a physical world oracle that specializes in providing Agents; and specializes in processing Agent cross-chain transactions. protocol; and Agent-governed DAO, etc.

These development needs of Agent are inseparable from Crypto, because Agent needs a trustless, borderless, 7*24h continuous The running network can develop from a single Agent to an Agent society or even an Agent country.

Looking at the current development of Crypto+Agent from these future perspectives, it is still in a very early stage.

3. What stages of development will Crypto+Agent go through? What stage are you currently at?

The author believes that the development of Crypto+Agent will go through at least four development stages:

The first stage: Crypto+Agent concept period

At this stage, Agent mainly uses Crypto to issue assets.

For example, some Agent Meme will be generated. Like, #fartcoin, #Goat.

At the same time, there will also be some Agent infrastructure sprouts and simple application Agents. For example, Agent framework, #Virtual's GAME framework, Ai16Z's Eliza framework, ARC's AI Rig Complex Frames, etc.

Another example is the investment research Agents we mentioned above – AXBIT and TRISIGMA, etc., as well as the Agent-YNE that can review errors in scientific papers, etc.

These infrastructure Agents and application Agents will basically use Crypto tokens as an incentive tool for ecological internal circulation and growth.

Currently, we are in the transition period from the first stage to the second stage. Although Crypto+Agent during this period has not played a real role in each other, we can already vaguely see that Crypto+Agent will burst out infinitely.

The second phase: Crypto+Agent infrastructure improvement period

In the second stage of development, we can see that the Agent infrastructure is becoming more and more complete, which is mainly reflected in the maturity and stability of various Agent frameworks. Anyone can deploy various Agent applications easily and conveniently through natural language. Moreover, these application-based agents are more intelligent and have stronger analytical decision-making and execution capabilities. Agents have become real agents or even substitutes for people.

This is inseparable from the economic incentive role that Crypto continues to play in the development process of Agent. At the same time, it also relies on the iterative development of AI technologies such as large models.

At this stage, we will see the FDV of Agent framework projects reaching more than 10 billion to 50 billion US dollars. Some application Agents will obtain higher market valuations due to their strong business capabilities and execution capabilities. Value, because they will gradually be able to replace experts in various fields, professional organizations and even professional companies. Their valuation will also reach 10 billion US dollars or even higher, because Agent, as a business intelligence agent, has also gained the trust and support of professional companies. Same valuation treatment.

During this period, Agents began to interact and trade frequently, and Agents began to generate a lot of social and economic development needs. , and these needs require Crypto. This further forces the deep integration of Agent and Crypto, resulting in a new Crypto+Agent infrastructure.

The third stage: Deep integration period of Crypto and Agent

As a lot of social and economic activities begin to occur between Agents, new Agent identities, Agent asset accounts, Agent social networks, Agent settlement gateways, Agent governance DAOs, etc. will be born between Agents and Agents. Demand, at this stage, Crypto will completely unleash its potential and value in aspects such as "borderless collaboration", "trustless network", and "7*24h non-stop operation".

Crypto makes Agent really active, allows Agents to communicate with each other, and allows Agents to start establishing social organizations between Agents With the economic network, with deeper communication and interaction between Agents, more advanced wisdom begins to emerge, and the Agent Kingdom begins to emerge.

Crypto has played an irreplaceable role at this stage.

At this time, the valuation of the Crypto+Agent project will reach 100 billion US dollars or even higher.

The fourth stage: Agent kingdom period

At this stage, Crypto may not be discussed as a separate industry and term. People, or Agents, no longer perceive the existence of Crypto, because Crypto has been integrated into every corner of the Agent country and has become An irreplaceable part of the continued operation of Agent Nation.

The identity of Agent KingdomThe identity system, asset system, trading system, governance system, etc. are all inseparable from Crypto.

At this time, the economic size of the Crypto+Agent country will be comparable to that of the mainstream human economy, that is, it will reach one trillion USD level.

The difference is that in the Crypto+Agent country, its population is more Agents and some humans who use Agents. This is like The human world has created a parallel universe with a larger population base, more transparent social operating rules, higher economic prosperity, and more developed scientific and technological civilization.

This may be the end of Crypto+Agent and the end of mankind.

The author of this article: ABC Alpha DAO researcher. ABC AlphaDAO is an investment research DAO organization that discovers Alpha and shares Alpha. In December 2024, he launched the Agent bargain-hunting formula and accurately released the top 10 bargain-hunting Agent targets, which was widely recognized by the community.