What’s Going On With AI tokens?
Crypto thrives on fads. Each fresh technology – NFTs, SocialFi, metaverse tokens – sparks furious rallies, only to see them slump when reality bites. This year’s craze has been “DeFAI“: artificial-intelligence agents designed to navigate decentralized finance.
In January, names like Virtuals and Ai16z sent tokens soaring. At one point the market value of AI-agent coins neared $16bn. Eight months later, they have shed nearly a third of their worth, even as Wall Street hits records on the back of AI-infrastructure spending. To many observers, the episode looks like another bout of speculative self-delusion. Yet it may also be a prelude to something more lasting.
White-labelled and re-skinned
The first generation of DeFAI projects promised sweeping automation. Platforms such as Virtuals’ G.A.M.E. or Ai16z’s ElizaOS made it easier to spin up tokenized agents able, in theory, to trade, lend or invest on behalf of their owners. Launchpads like DAOS.fun dangled visions of decentralized hedge funds: investors would pool cash, agents would manage it, and profits would flow back to token holders.
The idea was exciting. For little more than a few clicks, one could dispatch tireless digital workers to scour markets and place bets round the clock. An April survey by CoinGecko found that half of …
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