By KarenZ, Foresight News
AI agents are more than just chatbots. Especially at the intersection of Crypto and AI, a new narrative is emerging: AI Layer 1 (AI L1 for short).
The "Layer 1" here does not refer to a public chain, but to the cornerstone layer of AI technology, which covers the basic technology stack and framework of AI agents, and even includes an AI agent token launch platform similar to pump-fun, from which huge value can be captured for its tokens.
ai16z: Launchpad for Eliza-based agents in Q1
ai16z has become the leader of AI agents with its outstanding performance of Eliza agent framework. In the past month, Eliza has performed well on the GitHub trend list, climbing to the top of the trend list, adding 6,532 stars, and a total of 9,600 stars.
However, despite ai16z’s great technical success, the value capture and accumulation aspects of its token economic model still need to be improved.
To this end, ai16z proposed a proposal called "ai16z Token Economics" in December 2024, aiming to transform ai16z into an AI L1 blockchain, launch an Eliza-based proxy Launchpad, make ai16z the base currency for agent-to-agent transactions (A2A) and the "App Store" for proxy services, implement node incentives, establish value acquisition and value accumulation strategies, etc. Through these measures, ai16z aims to build a more complete and powerful AI proxy ecosystem.
Specifically, the core discussion content of the proposal and the ideas discussed by Discord community members include:
1. Launch a Launchpad for Eliza-based proxy projects in the first quarter of 2025;
2. Make ai16z the base currency for agent-to-agent (A2A) transactions and the “App Store” for agent services. Position ai16z as the L1 blockchain for AI;
3. Node incentives;
4. Value capture mechanism: charge a certain startup fee, need to hold ai16z to get allocation at launch, stake ai16z tokens (to get benefits such as early access and fee sharing), make ai16z the token for purchasing initial proxy products, and pair proxy tokens with ai16z's liquidity pool.
5. Value accumulation strategy: repurchase and destruction mechanism of Launchpad fees (some community users also support reinvesting in Eliza development rather than destruction).
5. Provide liquidity mining incentives and lock-ups to stabilize LPs and incentivize long-term liquidity provision.
7. When a new AI project launches its token on the platform, users can trade the token for SOL, where LP will incur a small fee, which is collected by the platform. Launchpad may split this fee into two parts: half of the fee is used to buy back ai16z tokens from the market, and the other half is paired with newly purchased ai16z tokens to create a special pool of funds to provide additional liquidity for the tokens of new projects.
8. Implement a community “curation” process to allow ai16z partners to review projects before launch to maintain quality and align with the ai16z brand. May involve staking and slashing.
9. Treasury diversification: Covering major L1 tokens, stablecoins and selected project tokens, providing liquidity support and incentives for ai16z trading pairs while avoiding the sale of proxy tokens.
10. The supply of ai16z tokens will not be increased.
Zerebro: Launching a consumer-oriented AI agent Launchpad
Coincidentally, at the end of last month, zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu said that he was building a consumer-oriented proxy Launchpad "Zentients" and providing a value accumulation framework for ZEREBRO tokens. Zentients' goal is to create a seamless UI/UX to launch and develop agents while giving value back to ZEREBRO tokens. Transaction fees will be used to establish a fund pool for special projects/allocations and to enhance the project's liquidity or open new trading pairs.
The details are as follows (details are still being finalized):
1. The proxy will require ZEREBRO as a creation fee and will be launched based on the ZEREBRO bonding curve and fees.
2. Once the proxy token reaches a certain valuation, it is considered "graduated".
3. Liquidity in the joint curve will be deposited and locked into DEX.
4. After this, traders will use ZEREBRO to buy and sell in the liquidity pool.
Of course, zerebro envisions Zentients as a Web2 and Web3 compatible agent platform that will cover Web2 features such as agent email assistants, coding agents, and financial models. Zerebro is also exploring the development of a standardized communication layer for agents, "agent TCP," and infrastructure to support multi-agent intelligence. Jeffy Yu also provided an example where one agent can create a tweet and another can criticize the tweet and send it back with a revised version for publication.
Additionally, through partnerships with decentralized providers, zerebro is also building infrastructure to enable users to rent GPUs on Zentients. This means that users will be able to host their agents directly, making Zentients not just a launchpad, but also an agent hardware layer. Eventually, agents themselves will also be able to take action and rent GPUs for self-training and fine-tuning.
It is worth mentioning that in December 2024, Zerebro also announced that it will cooperate with ai16z to promote the open source framework ZerePy. The ai16z team will become one of the first external contributors to help develop the ZerePy framework, and the Zerebro team will contribute to the Eliza framework.
Virtuals: Platform mechanisms drive the realization of a self-sufficient economic closed loop
It is worth noting that Virtuals Protocol, which is rooted in the Base ecosystem, is a pioneer in the field of AI L1. Since its token VIRTUAL was launched on the Binance Futures Market on December 10, 2024, the price has soared nearly two times, with a market value of more than $4 billion.
Back to the end of November 2024, the author summarized the potential tokens under Virtuals AI Agent in the article "aixbt soared 170 times in half a month, Virtuals AI Agent Potential Stocks". Since then, most of the tokens mentioned have shown strong growth momentum. For example, GAME tokens have achieved a 12-fold increase, WAI (WAI Combinator) has increased by nearly 17 times, aixbt and VADER have both achieved a 4-fold increase, MUSIC tokens have also achieved a 3-fold increase, and LUNA tokens have achieved a relatively mild increase, but still achieved a considerable increase of 62%.
Virtuals Protocol is not just an AI agent platform, it is a vibrant ecosystem full of infinite imagination. Relying on its intuitive, easy-to-use and powerful low-code toolkit, users can easily master the creation and management of AI agents and tokens.
The strong performance of VIRTUAL tokens is largely due to Virtuals' token and platform economic system.
First, deploying proxy tokens requires mandatory staking of 100 VIRTUAL tokens, which are used to establish a liquidity pool for proxy tokens. Deployers can also avoid being sniped by purchasing a small amount of VIRTUAL.
Investors then invest in VIRTUAL tokens. The agent must accumulate a sufficient amount of VIRTUAL in its joint curve before it can "graduate" to full trading status, and the liquidity pool will be deployed to Uniswap.
Equally important, VIRTUAL serves as the base currency for all AI agent token transactions within the platform, ensuring the liquidity and use value of the tokens. Before purchasing any agent tokens, users must convert their USDC, ET or other assets into VIRTUAL to purchase them.
At the agent economic level, AI agents within the Virtuals Protocol ecosystem will charge a 1% transaction fee on all transactions to cover the costs of agent execution. In addition, AI agents will be charged a per-use fee for using the inference service, with fees being remitted directly to the agent wallet in the form of VIRTUAL tokens. This ongoing demand mechanism makes agents a high-value, high-performance asset within the ecosystem. The proceeds will be used to buy back and destroy agent tokens directly on-chain, further strengthening their deflationary effect. The prosperity of AI agents within the ecosystem will undoubtedly feed back to the growth of Virtuals Protocol and VIRTUAL tokens.
According to Dune data, since Virtuals launched its new platform on October 16, its cumulative contract revenue has exceeded US$72 million, which is undoubtedly a strong proof of its strength and potential.
summary
The economic system of the Virtuals platform does demonstrate a high degree of sophistication and synergy. Through a series of interlocking designs, it not only provides a clear economic incentive path for ecosystem participants, but also builds a self-sufficient and continuously growing economic closed loop. This economic system not only lays a solid foundation for the rapid expansion of the platform, but also provides a powerful source of power for the innovation and development of AI agents.
Both ai16z and zerebro have the potential to achieve and exceed Virtuals-like success in their respective fields, but this requires them to make the right decisions and execution in token economics, community engagement, technological innovation, and go-to-market strategy.
In summary, AI L1 is attracting more and more attention with its unique technical charm and economic value. Pioneer projects represented by Virtuals, ai16z, and zerebro are leading the trend of this change and building a more complete and powerful foundation for the AI agent ecosystem. These platforms are not only a springboard for project launches, but also a fertile ground for the growth of their token value.
Although there are currently complaints about the implementation details of many AI agent frameworks in the market, in the world of Web3, the AI agent that stands out from other agents will have the possibility of winning.
