Author: @thedefiedge; Compiled by: Vernacular Blockchain

It is very likely that there will not be a full-scale "altcoin season", where all coins rise at the same time.

Mainly because of the dispersion of altcoins - there are too many types of Tokens now, and the liquidity is not enough to support them all rising (even if retail funds return) .

Only a few specific industries will experience full-blown altcoin season. Currently, AI agents are that industry.

Despite the blood-red market, this sector is hitting record highs. It's like a black hole, attracting liquidity and attention. If you missed the DeFi Summer in 2020, or the "Alt Layer 1" market in 2021...

The universe is giving you another chance. Don’t try to buck the trend, don’t try to be clever.

If you have been on the sidelines for a while, you may be worried about whether it is "too early" to enter the market now. "It's too late." I don’t think so:

The market is falling right now, but AI infrastructure and agents are hitting all-time highs. What do you think will happen once the market picks up?

This overall trend has only started about two months ago (from the release of GOAT). These AI agents are now at their worst. New features are unlocked every day. Imagine what would happen once they were able to optimize your portfolio for you and trade for you on-chain?

Think of these infrastructures as copycat Layer 1, and think of artificial intelligence agents as decentralized applications (Dapps). We may see the market capitalization of some of these protocols reach the level of copycat Layer 1 ($10 billion+). The biggest difference? Most of these do not have VC support, so you don't have to worry about huge unlocking risks.

There is currently no top protocol on the centralized exchange (CEX)city. I have some real life friends who are interested in this opportunity, but they're having some difficulty getting access.

I will primarily talk about investment opportunities in AI infrastructure, as they currently offer the best risk/reward ratio.

Instead of choosing a single agent, you own the entire casino. In a gold rush, the richest people were those who sold shovels and picks.

Let us take a deeper look: The two kings of artificial intelligence infrastructure

1. The two kings of artificial intelligence infrastructure 1) @virtuals_io ( Market cap $4.6 billion) - The current king

Virtuals has established itself as an AI agent launch platform status.

It is dominant on Base, but has the potential to expand to other blockchains. Co-founder @ethermage has revealed that they are ready to launch the platform on Solana. In 2025, they are also exploring expansion to @HyperliquidX and @AbstractChain.

They recently released content about high-level strategic plans, including attracting top agent developers, improving technology, and making Virtuals the fairest agent investment platform. Keep an eye out to see how they turn these plans into reality.

Will we see revenue sharing for AI agents soon?

Three core advantages:

Token economics: Creating an agent requires Virtuals, and the liquidity matching of all Tokens also requires Virtuals. Every new agent launch platform is imitating their token economics.

Network effects: All eyes are now on Virtuals. Publishing a proxy here means you have the power of both Virtuals and Base.

Last Agency: @AIXBT is the first large agency to exceed $500 million in market capitalization.

I don't like making price predictions, but Virtuals has the potential to be in the top ten by market capitalization this cycle.

2) Ai16z (market value 2.2 billion US dollars) "Dragon Slayer"?

Ai16z has experienced a lot of ups and downs since its inception. It is home to the leading agent framework ElizaOS and is currently the most followed code base on Github.

The biggest complaint before was their token economics, specifically that they didn’t do it very well capture value. Now they are planning a complete overhaul, with a new Launchpad expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2025.

Projects started based on the Eliza framework will:

Pay startup fees (part of which will be paid back through The purchase and destruction flows back to $AI16z).

Requires holding $AI16z to gain access and liquidity pairing.

Pair Token with $AI16z in the liquidity pool to stabilize the market.

It's like owning a part of a casino where every new agent pays a fee to participate.

Treasury Strategy and Strong Initiatives: Plans to diversify among major L1 Tokens, stablecoins and project tokens, while providing liquidity for $AI16z pairings.

The goal is long-term sustainability, not a fire sale.

Agent groups: What are the key focuses? Cluster collaboration of artificial intelligence agents. This is where decentralized artificial general intelligence (AGI) starts to become real.

Ecosystem incentives: Developers building on Eliza will receive: Ecosystem funding and fee-sharing opportunities.

Core idea? Make $AI16z the glue that connects the entire decentralized AI stack. It can be compared to $ETH or $SOL, but made for autonomous agents.

3) Which is better, Virtuals or Ai16z?

Virtuals: I am very optimistic about their strategy. They take the long view and really feel like everyone else is catching up to them. They are also riding on the momentum of the Base ecosystem.

Ai16z: From what I have seen, ElizaOS is indeed a better technology for developing agents. And their Token Economics reform will solve many of the problems encountered before.

I know this industry loves tribalism, but you don’t have to take sides. I'm not sure who will win in the long run - it would be better to hold both (my personal investment bias is towards Virtuals and its ecosystem).

Many industries will eventually merge and become a "two-power struggle for hegemony." Such as Apple and Android, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Will a similar situation emerge in this field?

2. Competitors

Virtuals and Ai16z are dominating, but it's still early days. If you want higher returns, consider some beta projects.

1) ZereBro (market value $632 million) - Transformation has arrived

ZereBro was originally A general artificial intelligence agent that can also create music. But now, it's transforming into a complete framework for creating other agents.

Zerepy is an open source proxy framework based on Python. Python is very important:

It is the most popular programming language in the world.

Most artificial intelligence tools and libraries are written in Python.

It will let youStart a proxy like ZereBro.

The biggest catalyst is the upcoming launch of the Zentients agency platform in early 2025. This new launch platform ties value directly to ZEREBRO. Each agent created brings value back through startup fees, liquidity pool tethering, and innovative mechanisms (locked liquidity).

Now that ZereBro has become part of the thriving Virtuals ecosystem, it plans to launch the ZereBro/Virtual liquidity pool on @Base to expand its reach.

They are executing a similar strategy to the current market kings, but are now trading at much lower valuations.

2) ARC (@arcdotfun) - market value $358 million - Rust-based AI agent framework

Arc.fun is building an open source proxy framework called Rig. This framework is currently the only proxy framework built on Rust. This is important because Rust is Solana’s native language.

Why is ARC worthy of attention?

The Rust language helps optimize performance through zero-cost abstractions.

Rig framework has proven to be superior to Langchain in memory usage and cold start time.

@0xCygaar is contributing to Rig's GitHub. He is also a core contributor to Abstract Chain.

Simply put, Arc = Rust and a great codebase.

3) GRIFFAIN (market value $457 million) – Solana’s artificial intelligence application store

Griffinain lets you interact with your own agents through natural language for on-chain search and operations.

Key takeaways:Griffain agents can autonomously execute preset on-chain transactions, such as making fixed investments (DCA) every hour, or setting limit orders to buy or sell. You can also receive real-time reports via email about the tokens held by an address and changes in its portfolio.

The project is publicly supported by @aeyakovenko and Solana Labs. Their goal is to build Griffin on Solana Mobile what Siri is on the iPhone.

Griffain is built by @tonyplasencia3, who previously developed Underdog and Blink on Solana.

This project is very interesting.

I'm trying to keep an eye on future trends. Agents are often criticized for being “chatbots” that lack practical use. And Griffin is laying the groundwork for proxies that can be truly useful on-chain.

4) REI (market value $153 million) - a smarter artificial intelligence agent

At its core, REI is not just another artificial intelligence agent robot. It is a full-stack framework that combines artificial intelligence innovation with blockchain.

Think of it as an artificial intelligence that can not only perform tasks, but also learn, reason and adapt.

What can it do?

REI interacts with users primarily through X, and its cognitive architecture enables natural, context-aware communication.

How does it work?

Her OracleBridge connects off-chain data, while ERCData Standard structures it for efficient use on-chain.

Combined with REI's four-layer cognitive model (thinking, reasoning, decision-making, action), this makesShe is able to learn, adapt, and perform deterministic tasks.

Recent developments have promoted the potential of REI:

AIStackSDK: launched in phases to allow development It is easier to create an agent.

Scaling the Oracle Network: This is key to building real-world AI applications on-chain.

Phase 2 catalysts: full testnet launch, advanced verification protocols, and mainnet plans for 2025.

Macro view:

REI is more than just smarter robots. It is shaping decentralized intelligence through the precise combination of artificial intelligence and blockchain.

If you are looking for the future of autonomous agents, REI is a framework worth paying attention to.

5) VAPOR (market value $154 million) - the first and only AI agent launch platform on Hyperliquid

Vapor is a native AI agent launch platform on Hyperliquid, built using @ai16zdao's Eliza framework.

Key Takeaways:

While $AI16Z accounts for approximately 1.2% of Solana's fully diluted market cap, $VAPOR's market cap is only $132 million, equivalent to Hyperliquid's fully diluted market cap 0.47%.

Once online, users need to burn $VAPOR to start the agent. This means that $VAPOR is deflationary and the total supply will continue to decrease.

All proxy tokens launched on Hyper EVM will be paired with $VAPOR in the native DEX liquidity pool. As more agents come online, more $VAPOR will be locked in the liquidity pool.

It is currently online on the testnet, and all agents have passed the reviewBatch, no Token gating required.

6) MODE (market value: US$114 million) - the combination of artificial intelligence agents and decentralized finance

Mode Network can be seen as an ETH Layer 2, focusing on scaling decentralized finance (DeFi) to billions of users through on-chain AI agents.

"By 2026, more than 80% of on-chain transactions will be conducted through AI agents." If you think this holds true, Mode will provide you with exposure.

Key data:

500M+ TVL: ranked third in the OP Superchain ecosystem chain.

User growth: 367,000 users, 24M+ transactions.

Undervalued: Market cap to TVL ratio shows potential upside.

What happens on Mode?

Synth testnet launched: Bittensor subnet for financial prediction and unlocking DeFi intelligence.

AI Agent Hackathon: The first-ever hackathon attracted 667 registrants and launched more than 10 Eliza plug-ins in 6 days.

The latest development of the AI ​​agent application store: currently hosting some online agents, including:

Amplifi: Bitcoin abstraction layer, using AIFi to extend Bitcoin to billions of users.

Arma: Optimizing USDC’s yield farming.

Brian: Execute transactions and contracts through natural language.

Sturdy: aggregating AI-driven revenue treasury, practicalachieve higher returns.

QuillAI Network: Secure AI agent powered by D-LLM and EigenLayer AVS.

Mode’s vision?

Build an infrastructure for an on-chain agency economy. Advancing this vision with Synth testnet, BitcoinOS integration, and growing AI agents.

7) GAME (@game_virtuals) - Market value $390 million - Virtuals framework

G.A.M.E is The first infrastructure project to allow developers to integrate AI agents into games.

Description from Virtuals:

“Every society has its core infrastructure; Critical to its growth and development @game_virtuals acts as Shopify within Virtuals, while @base acts like SWIFT ”

Remarkable progress:< /p>

By The Virtuals protocol team develops it themselves.

$$GAME is the backbone of the Virtual economy. Every time an AI agent runs, it effectively pays $$GAME fees to keep the ecosystem running.

G.A.M.E already supports over 200 projects and over 150,000 requests are sent through G.A.M.E every day.

In the Virtuals ecosystem, G.A.M.E ranks first in performance over the past 30 days, growing nearly 400%.

G.A.M.E’s lifecycle inference times on the Virtuals protocol have exceeded 2.2 million times.

G.A.M.E is still underrated because people don't really understand what it does. And the G.A.M.E team themselves aren’t doing much to promote it (the official account has only posted 5 tweets in total, and they haven’t even updated their Twitter avatar yet, haha).

A similar but riskier project is CONVO, which powers conversations on Virtuals.

8) Soul Graph (@soulgra_ph) $GRPH - Market value 36 million - Make agents more humane

Imagine that if other frameworks shape an agent's "hard skills", Soul Graph shapes its "soft skills", making it more human. Its framework is designed to add personality to new or existing AI agents.

"We are building open source tools and providing the infrastructure that allows developers to give their agents evolving personalities, lasting memories, and real-time communication capabilities."

Key points:

It has created more than 2,000 "souls" and in Over 15,000 available in Soulgraph Playground minutes of voice conversation.

Soulgraph recently integrated with the AI16Z plugin.

85% of the total supply is allocated to the community, and developers’ shares are locked and will be unlocked within 1 year.

I think this project is going to be huge.

Argument:

Character AI is huge. Ordinary people log on to that site and spend hours chatting with AI texts. Google just bought it (Character AI) for $2.7 billion. Imagine what it would be like if people could talk to AI agents in real time, and those agents had personalities and memories like humans.

This is exactly what Soul Graph does. You can visit their website to see it for yourself.

9) Other projects worth watching:

This article It's getting a bit long and I couldn't write all of the protocols. Here are some others worth noting:

Bully (@dolos_diary): Originally a parody account. , now it showcases @dolion_ai, a social media AI Agent framework.

TopHat (@tophat_one): Agent launch platform on Solana.

SwarmNode (@Swarmnode): Think of it like AWS Lambda, but specifically for AI agents and frameworks

CookieFun (@cookiedotfun): Similar to DeFiLlama. / Kaito's A.I. agent data tracking platform tracks data such as thought sharing, intelligent interaction and market value. Some advanced functions require a Token threshold.

3. How to choose?

First of all, everyone should pay attention to Virtuals and AI16z. These projects are clearly dominant and I see no signs of them slowing down.

If you consider doing some beta Investing, here are the directions I'm following:

LaunchPad on Emerging Chains: This is the strategy from 2021 that Virtuals dominates Base. LaunchPad from other popular chains is a good choice. This is why the price of Vapor has skyrocketed, because Hyperliquid is currently very popular.

Are you focusing on a certain niche?: It is difficult to launch a general Layer 1 or Layer 2 now. On the contrary, you must focus on a specific field, such as becoming a "game chain". This is why I think Mode It's interesting why it focuses on AI agents and DeFi, or like Griffin on natural language.

Programming languages: Infrastructure projects need agents, agents need developers, and developers have their own preferred programming languages. This is why Zerebro (Python) and Arc (Rust) stand out. 4. A.I. Portfolio Recommendations

Conservative portfolio: 50% Virtuals and 50% ai16z. This combination is simple and will probably win over 80% of people.

Alpha/Beta Hybrid Portfolio: Virtuals As an Alpha investment, you can choose a competing framework as a Beta investment, such as Arc or Griffin.

Medium-high risk portfolio: Virtuals and ai16z as "safe" investments, followed by higher risk A.I. proxy investments.

Full spectrum investing: infrastructure alpha investing and some beta investing, plus some A.I. proxy investing with varying risk profiles. Choose some Alpha projects like @aixbt and invest in something with a market cap of less than $100 million.

5. Negative news about AI Agent

"Too many startup platforms and frameworks" - Brothers, look at how many Layer 1 and Layer there are now 2? We're doing pretty well. This entire industry is new and growing rapidly. If you're building a new city, it makes sense to build the roads, bridges, and pipelines first.

"Most of it is garbage and will eventually return to zero" - this is the encryption industry. Most things fall apart, but the ones that survive end up being game-changers.

"The AI ​​industry has reached its peak" - you will not succeed. Don’t give up halfway.

"All AI agents are bad" - There was a time when someone was afraid of online shopping. I also remember that when the iPhone first came out, you couldn’t copy and paste. We are in the early stages now. It's a bet on the future.

6. Summary

As everyone expected, we all know that there will be a bull market in this round, butI'm not sure any new primitive technology will emerge that will be a game changer.

What will be this round’s “DeFi” or “NFT” moment? Which area will reignite enthusiasm among all developers? Which area will give retail investors an epiphany and make them enter the market one after another?

I'm not sure there will ever be a moment like this. But the good news is...it's coming.

This may very well be your chance of success - do your research and don't mess up.