AI Agent Meta Grows with New Tokens and Launchpads
The AI agent frenzy began with the Solana memecoin GOAT, created by Andy Ayrey through an experiment involving two Claude AI models. Currently, GOAT has a market cap of $404 million but has lost some prominence.
Luna (LUNA) was the first to replicate GOAT’s success as an anime girl chatbot that operates continuously on social media. Users can interact with Luna and tip her using her own token. Luna is part of Virtuals Protocol, an “AI Agent launchpad” on Base.
Virtuals evolved from the PathDAO gaming guild and adopted a successful model from pump.fun. The platform allows launching agent tokens tied to a bonding curve for liquidity provision on Uniswap, while its native VIRTUALS token supports the cost of agent launches and inferences.
In the Virtuals ecosystem, Luna competes with other chatbots like Airene and utility-focused agents such as aixbt, which analyzes social media data for trading insights. Aixbt has reached a market cap of $1 billion.
Competition also exists among AI agent launchpads, including vvaifu.fun, Creator.Bid, MyShell.ai, and Zentients. Additionally, AI agent frameworks simplify customization for developers. Leading frameworks include ai16z’s “Eliza,” Virtual’s G.A.M.E, ZerePy, and RIG, each associated with its own speculative token.
AI investment DAOs allow users to deposit SOL or ETH in exchange for DAO tokens, sharing in the fund's profits. Ai16z launched first on Solana, currently managing $23.4 million with its AI16Z token valued at $1.4 billion. New platforms Daos.world and VaderAI have recently gained traction, collectively raising around one million in capital across six funds.