How to seize opportunities as early as possible in the AI ​​Agent cycle?

Author: 0xJeff , crypto KOL

Compiled by: Felix, PANews

As early as October, Virtuals launched the concept of AI agent tokenization. It was a bold move, but most people didn't care at the time because it was too ahead of its time.

Now Virtuals are bringing 50x, 100x returns to many agents, and suddenly everyone is paying attention.

But the problem is that everyone is focused on returns of 50-100 times. If you want similar outsized returns, you have to act early. You need strong confidence and patience to make plans before others find out.

If you get in now, you might see a 5-10x return - still solid, but nowhere near the 50-100x returns that early adopters are getting. But that doesn’t mean it’s too late, you need to be strategic. The "alpha" from two months ago is no longer alpha. The Virtuals ecosystem is overcrowded and the low-hanging fruit has been picked.

What should I do now?

First don’t limit yourself to one ecosystem. Base vs. Solana, Virtuals vs. ai16z doesn’t matter – both ecosystems have opportunities. The key is to be flexible and look for value, not tribalism.

What should you look for when choosing an agent?

Essentially, the key to a successful agency is uniqueness and usefulness. Without utility, proxy tokens behave like 95% of memecoins and become irrelevant after the hype cycle.

Agents need to have unique products that provide tangible value. Bonus points if the team truly understands the attention game:

• A compelling legend or story can be created around the agent

• Release features quickly and continuously

• Actively meet community needs

When these factors are in place, it is possible for an agency to find product market fit (PMF), achieve product-market fit, and then those teams that continue to execute and innovate (such as aixbt) can dominate their market segments and become the backbone of the ecosystem .

The following are the narratives and practicalities that CT currently values ​​most:

1. Looking for Alpha

Agents that provide trading signals and insights are in high demand. Aixbt, for example, focuses on providing valuable alpha to users.

Other alpha agents worth watching:

• Rei: Provides comprehensive coin and sentiment analysis, complete with detailed charts
• Agent Scarlett: Focuses on coin analysis, analyzing pros and cons and providing insights
• 3σ: Covers complete project breakdown and interpretation
• kwantxbt: Good at technical analysis, providing trading assistants, continuously monitoring market dynamics, and providing real-time analysis and suggestions
• $TRUST: perp agent, which can be set including entry price, stop loss, etc.

2. Invest in DAO

Hedge fund-style DAOs, run by humans or AI agents, use their funds to invest.

Example:

• daos.world ecosystem on Base
• VaderAI, WAI Combinator, sekoia_virtuals, aixcb on Virtuals
• daos.fun ecosystem on Solana

Investing in DAOs is powerful because they offer:

• Endorsement of high-quality agents
• Distribution Channels for Portfolio Projects
• Early and OTC rounds of tokens, often delivering outsized returns

3. On-chain transactions

On-chain transactions are a narrative that resonates deeply with the CT crowd because of the hustle and bustle of seeing someone turn $1,000 into $1 million.

It’s not just about the money, it’s about the excitement of seeing others struggle and succeed.

The first iteration of trading agents will harness this energy. They will focus on portfolio growth, demonstrating their frameworks and strategies in real time. Although this is an early narrative, it's already taking shape among some players.

Example:

• Gekko AI: A self-improving trading agent on Virtuals that leverages Axal's infrastructure to deliver results.
• Big Tony: Built on Cod3x and focused on autonomous execution of professional transactions.
• Project Plutus: Combining real-time analysis with automated DCA execution.
• On-chain trading agents are expected to become the focus of market attention in the first/second quarter of 2025.

4. Development-focused utilities

As the ecosystem grows, the need for developer tools becomes critical.

Example:

• SOLENG: Monitor pull requests, conduct initial reviews, and serve as AI judges for hackathons
• H4CK Terminal: White hat agent responsible for bounty and vulnerability checking
• CertaiK: Specialized in security auditing for agents

5. Privacy and Confidentiality (TEE)

The Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), pioneered by Marvin Tong and Phala Network on Solana, enables fully autonomous agents.

Example use cases/cool experiments:

• aiPool’s “Unruggable ICO” (through TEE technology, investors can send funds to the agent, which will calculate and distribute the corresponding number of ICO tokens in a secure environment)
• SPORE: TEE agent that has inherited characteristics and is passed on to future generations.
• Neural network experiments such as DeepWorm.

There is no TEE agent on Virtuals yet, and the first one to be launched will definitely see its value soar.

6. Gameplay beyond narrative

Predict future narratives in advance and you’ll be rewarded hundreds of times more. This was the strategy used when entering Virtuals with a market capitalization of less than $30 million.

Emerging Narratives of 2025:

• DeFi proxy
• NSFW proxy (AI companion)
• robotics
• data
• Gamification of agency
• Swarm/Collective Intelligence
• infrastructure