AI Agent Market Trends: DeFAI, Game Agents and Investment DAO

The AI ​​Agent market continues to develop, and DeFAI, game agents and investment in DAO have become emerging hot spots.

Original title: "ai agents weekly recap"

Written by: sandraaleow, member of kaitoai and partyhatDAO

Compiled by: zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor's note: The AI ​​Agent market trend has shown diversified development this week. DeFAI (DeFi + AI) projects such as ANON and Griffin have received attention, promoting multi-chain functions and automation. Game agents such as Virtuals expand potential beyond entertainment, and Solana’s AI Hackathon and SendAI accelerate AI application innovation. Investing in DAO uses AI agents to optimize decision-making and demonstrate a new model of decentralized investment. The rise of AI agents has triggered widespread discussions, and developer functions and token mechanisms have become key. Platforms such as Yaps continue to provide agency data and rankings, and market dynamics are worthy of attention.

The following is the original content (the original content has been edited for ease of reading and understanding):

overall trend

Mentions of agents are currently at an all-time high, indicating that more and more people believe that agents are not just a temporary fad, but a transformative force with the potential to disrupt multiple industries and transform our daily lives.

In his keynote speech at CES 2025, Jensen Huang mentioned: "AI agents have the potential to become a multi-trillion dollar industry." But how this will all develop is still uncertain - many agents have been called "exploitative" or "ephemeral" ” This is understandable considering the innovative nature of the agent field. While some teams are building toward a long-term vision, others are seizing on short-term opportunities.

According to CoinGecko's agent category, the total market capitalization of the agent market today reached $15.5 billion.

The attention of the AI ​​topic reached 70% for the first time this week (kaitoai).

agent external attention trend

Kaito Pro paid features

Definition: agent attention = quantifying the frequency of external mentions of the token/stock code

Attention is widely regarded as a key metric for evaluating agent performance, because in the encryption field, attention is everything.

Overall attention distribution - heat map (past 7 days):

• AIXBT still dominates, with more than 33% of the total attention of AI agent tokens, followed by AI16Z and Fartcoin, ranking in the top three.
• Eliza and Zerebro are in the middle (both above 5%).
• Virtual also maintained a significant share (5.25%).

Observations and conclusions (based on 7-day and 30-day attention changes)

1.AIXBT still leads the way

Rising from 27.5% in 30 days to 33% in 7 days, AIXBT still maintains the highest attention among all agent tokens. The advantage of AIXBT over other agent tokens lies in its distribution capabilities. Constantly updated content, frequent influencer interactions and extensive exposure make it far ahead of its peers. Although AIXBT still ranks first, its attention has declined compared to other agent tokens.

2.AI16Z momentum is growing

In the past 7 days, AI16Z's attention jumped from 7.9% to about 12%. AI16Z is consolidating its market leadership in agent infrastructure. One of the main drivers of success is its open source framework Eliza, now the most talked about repository on GitHub. The discussion about open source frameworks versus closed source/one-click deployment frameworks is becoming more and more heated, and it is expected that this topic will continue to develop.

Recently, AI16Z has partnered with projects like Hyperfy, which focuses on open source Metaverse infrastructure, allowing permissionless world creation with agents built in.

Future catalysts include their Launchpad platform, which will facilitate the deployment of new projects on the Eliza framework. Although the Launchpad space is relatively crowded, the attention Eliza has received through the open source framework and the brand power it has established suggests that adoption will continue to accelerate.

3. Fartcoin, Bully and Luna decline

The seven-day interest in these coins is lower than the 30-day average.

The overall observation is that "personalization" agents have taken a bit of a hit this week as the market shifts to more practical agents. Apparently, the market is experiencing some fatigue with pure "reply" agents, which provide very similar outputs (with little differentiation), causing them to gradually lose relevance.

4.Eliza & Virtual rise

Eliza's attention increased from 5.1% to about 6%, while Virtual increased from 4.0% to about 5.25%. Despite the recent decline in the market, Eliza and Virtual are still steadily growing in attention. Virtual has made significant gains in both price and attention over the past few weeks.

5. Zerebro remains stable

During the two time periods, Zerebro's attention remained stable at around 6%.

Tokens with increased attention within 7 days, such as Orbit, ACT, HAT, Turbo, and VVAifu, have all recorded increased attention in the past 7 days.

ACT = ACT introduced a new top technical development team and chief technology officer (CTO), established the ACT DAO for investment, released a public code repository, and launched a new funding process. Integrated with leading AI teams at Web2 and Web3, and collaborated with Gnon to develop Echo Chambers -a decentralized agent-to-agent communication network.

Orbit = Orbit is a platform that integrates AI agents with the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, supporting more than 100 blockchains. The token GRIFT is used to power the platform and is considered a leading product in the DeFAI space.

HAT = HAT has been integrated with Binance Alpha, increasing its visibility in the crypto community. Top Hat AI, the company behind HAT, is upgrading to the V2 version, enhancing its AI infrastructure platform, providing more customization and open source features, and attracting more advanced developers. Its token economics have been updated, introducing token permission functions and a deflation model, enhancing the utility and value of tokens.

Trends in agent KOL field

Freely accessible Yapper rankings.

agentKOL attention = measures the degree of "intelligent interaction" of an agent on Twitter, focusing on meaningful interactions (likes, retweets, replies) from key influencers or high-value accounts.

AgentKOL attention growth list within 7 days

• Thales ai
• virtualsio
• s8n
• centienceio
• CryptoEternalAI
• MinetardAI
• bossu online
• Vader AI
• AimonicaBrands

agent attention (external mentions) vs. agent interaction

Observation 1: AIXBT experienced a drop in external mentions and interactions

Discussions about AIXBTagent have significantly decreased, especially as the novelty of its high-cost terminal access (approximately 200-300K AIXBT tokens required) has gradually faded, and the huge initial interest has waned. While it did attract a lot of attention initially, external mentions and engagement metrics declined over time.

Observation 2: Emerging players appear in the agentKOL field

The agent field is changing, and more and more projects and teams are beginning to launch their own agents, trying to occupy a place in this topic. While it's still uncertain whether these new players can maintain agent interactions, it's worth watching in the coming weeks.

Observation 3: Market leaders show slight weakness

It is worth noting that the agent interaction of Zerebro and Goat dropped significantly as new players entered the agentKOL field. Taking Zerebro as an example, its agent interaction peaked at 24% in mid-November and has now dropped to 2%. If we look back at the agentKOL field in the past three months, Goat once ranked second after AIXBT. However, it's clear that the enthusiasm for Truth Terminal has died down, and attention has turned to these emerging players.

Key accounts in the agent realm

Top accounts mentioning the word "agent" in the past 7 days:

Top accounts mentioning the word "agent" (sorted by external mentions):

• s4mmy - 40 mentions
• cyrilxbt - 32 mentions
• shawmakesmagic - 27 mentions
• beast ico - 24 mentions
• lordofafew - 21 mentions

Top accounts mentioning the word "agent" ranked by highest intelligent interactions (last 7 days):

• shawmakesmagic - 303 smart interactions
• aixbt agent - 141 smart interactions
• defi0xjeff - 121 smart interactions
• 0xcygaar - 105 smart interactions
• 0xglu - 99 smart interactions

Key discussion content

defi0xjeff discussed the accelerated development of DeFAI (DeFi + AI) and emerging trends in the agent field, focusing on the role of abstraction layers, automated transactions, and AI-driven DApps. He also mentioned the competition in the abstraction layer space and the potential of automated trading agents.

eigenlayer announced that it will cooperate with Eliza Labs to host an AI agent hacker house event, focusing on building the next generation of AI agents. This event will be held in Denver and is designed to promote collaboration and innovation among developers.

TheSmarmyBum raised the question of whether AI agents need tokens, and the response emphasized the economic agent and shared economic framework provided by tokens for AI agents.

sreeramkannan explores the concept of Autonomous Verifiable Services (AVS) for AI agents, highlighting the need for verifiable computation and how agents can operate autonomously in a decentralized environment.

RaoulGMI shared his thoughts on the topic of AI agents, arguing that this could be a mid-term trend gaining traction due to the lack of other eye-catching narratives.

defi0xjeff went on to discuss emerging trends in the agent metaverse and AI-driven ecosystems, highlighting the potential for solid returns in targeting these trends early on.

elliotrades compared the current AI agent trend with the "DeFi Summer" period, believing that AI agent is a major breakthrough in the first application of AI technology in the encryption field, and predicted that there will be large-scale expansion in Q1/Q2.

Rewkang emphasized the importance of developer functions in AI agent platforms, believing that a successful platform will be one that maximizes what developers can do, similar to successful platforms in other industries.

This Week’s Observations/Trend Highlights

DeFAI and AI drive the rise of DAO

A notable example this week is ANON, led by Daniele Sesta. Many believe that Heyanon's use of AI to automate complex DeFi tasks (such as arbitrage, yield farming, and risk management) is consistent with the DeFAI trend and is committed to simplifying on-chain interactions.

Heyanon's ecosystem includes multiple components, such as the AI ​​research agent Gemma, which is able to track whale movements, monitor social sentiment and identify revenue opportunities. This integration is designed to provide users with actionable insights and facilitate seamless execution of transactions. The project is positioned as a comprehensive AI-driven DeFi solution, focusing on multi-chain functionality and automation, and has strong competitiveness in the DeFAI field.

Griffin, a leading DeFAI project from the Solana ecosystem, had a great market performance this week, hitting a new high in market capitalization. Other emerging projects such as Neur and Orbit are also growing.

The rise of game agents

Gaming agents are attracting attention because they bring new interactivity and personalized experiences to the gaming landscape. Virtuals is working hard to demonstrate the potential of game agents to be more than just "entertainment."

Solana AI Hackathon and Sendai

The Solana AI Hackathon attracted a large number of projects and drove market activity, showing Solana's growth in AI agent development despite some concerns about speculative token issuance and market manipulation.

Solana Agent Kit has been widely used, allowing developers to deploy AI-driven applications on the chain. Send ai and AI Agent Kit are promoting Solana to become the center of AI-driven innovation, which may spawn more agent projects and consolidate Solana's position in the field of DeFAI.

Investing in the Rise of DAOs

Investing in DAOs, especially on platforms like daos.fun, is becoming a decentralized alternative to traditional venture capital. The platform supports the launch of multiple DAOs, attracting more and more attention. Investors optimize decisions through AI agents, and investing in DAOs is becoming a more flexible and data-driven alternative to traditional investment models.