The fact that AI agent projects are all launching their own tokens raises the question: Where does the value of these tokens come from, or are they just another variant of meme coins?

Are AI Agent Tokens Just Meme Coins in Disguise?
When they first emerged, most AI agent protocols in Web3 offered free services with no token integration. For example, similar to Google’s Gemini, the Zerebro project allows users to interact with AI without needing to own ZEREBRO tokens or NFTs.

However, over time, AI agent projects began launching their own tokens, and these tokens experienced significant price increases. For example, AIXBT from aixbt increased by 2,100% within a month, and the AI16Z token surpassed a market cap of $1.8 billion two months after launch.
This raises the question: Where does the value of these AI agent tokens come from, or are they just another variant of meme coins?
According to Hitesh, founder of the DYOR app, AI agent projects, both currently and in the future, do not require the use of tokens. He argues that the price increase of AI agent tokens is no different from the previous growth cycle of meme coins, where value is derived purely from “nothingness.”
There are some signs supporting this argument. Initially, projects in the AI agent sector were protocols providing infrastructure for AI agent development, such as Bittensor (TAO) and Fetch.ai (FET).
However, as AI agents gained popularity, Virtuals Protocol developed an AI agent model where users could create any token. After this token reaches a certain market cap threshold, the Virtuals team would develop a dedicated AI agent for it.
According to Dune Analytics, approximately 100 AI agent tokens are created on Virtuals Protocol each day, and this trend may continue to grow stronger in the future.

Some argue that the user interface and the steps to create a token on Virtuals Protocol feel very similar to Pump.fun, a platform that allows anyone to create meme coins.
“Meme Coin” Tokens as a Way to Attract Attention
Compared to AI in Web2, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, current AI agents in Web3 are weaker in terms of quantity, popularity, and practical value. Therefore, one of the methods AI agent projects employ to attract users is launching tokens and making them resemble meme coins.
According to research by Mfon Akpan on the correlation between token value and AI agents, the correlation between token value and the number of users utilizing AI agents is 0.871. This correlation suggests that when token value increases, the number of users utilizing AI agents also increases,

According to Gate.io, meme coins have always been considered an effective strategy to attract users — starting with excitement and driving price increases. Tokens of AI agent projects, with features that pique community interest, such as singing, writing poetry, and analyzing information, can be compared to meme coins.
Furthermore, Gate.io argues that compared to DeFi projects, AI agent platforms must put in more effort to maintain continuous community attention. DeFi products can remain “quiet” for a while to focus on product development and make significant breakthroughs later.
Conversely, AI agent projects must interact regularly with the community to avoid being “forgotten” and losing users to other AI agent projects with stronger engagement.
While many AI agent tokens are considered to have no real value, projects are gradually improving their token economic models over time. For example, holders of the ai16z AI project token can receive a portion of the platform’s investment profits.
We can expect that in the future,
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