In the past two days, Portal Labs saw a piece of news from PANews stating: According to the 2024 annual Runa Open Source Entrepreneurship Index (ROSS Index) report released by the European venture capital firm Runa Capital, more than half of the 20 hottest open-source startups globally are closely related to AI, with projects represented by MyShell and Fuel prominently featured.
In Web3, starting from the end of 2023, elements of #AI have become popular, and by 2025, #AIAgents , it can be said that any project that does not incorporate some AI elements is 'out of place'.
To say how popular the AI label is in the current Web3, let's first look at a set of data (at the time of writing):
The data in the table above comes from CoinGecko's classification. It can be observed that although the concept of AI+ has only been around for less than 2 years, its number of projects/token types, as well as market capitalization and 24-hour trading volume, have already surpassed multiple mature sectors. Of course, this does not fully showcase the popularity of AI+.
Let's take another look at a set of data:
This is financing data from Portal Labs compiled from Rootdata and PANews for the AI sector in February-March.
It can be found that in February, the AI sector had a total of 22 financings, with a known total financing amount exceeding $97.6 million, with the highest financing amount being $15 million; March had relatively fewer, with 14 financings up to the time of writing, with a known total financing amount exceeding $82.04 million, and the highest financing amount also being $15 million.
At the same time, looking at the overall number of financings, there are basically at least 3 AI sector project financings in each week's financing, accounting for about 10%.
Additionally, from the investors' perspective, although many financings are seed rounds or community rounds, strategic financing, we can also see many well-known venture capital firms, such as Meow, IDG Capital, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), Animoca Brands, Amber Group, DWF Labs, and Sequoia China.
Therefore, whether in terms of proportion, financing amount, or the quality of investors, the AI+ sector's financing can be considered a remarkable achievement in emerging sectors.
So, why is Web3 so optimistic about AI+, and to be more specific, the currently hottest AI Agents?
Aside from macro environmental factors, the more core reason lies in the fact that AI Agents align very well with the needs of Web3:
A natural extension of the decentralized concept
The core concept of Web3 is 'decentralization' - no longer relying on centralized platforms but achieving self-management of assets and permissions through smart contracts and distributed networks. AI Agents are a natural extension of this concept.
Unlike traditional AI, AI Agents are no longer tools controlled by centralized institutions but are 'intelligent agents' that can operate autonomously on blockchain networks, possessing their own on-chain identity, wallet, and assets, and can perform data access, task execution, asset management, and other actions through on-chain protocols.
This means that AI Agents no longer rely on any single platform's permission but can act as independent participants in the Web3 network, collaborating with human users or other Agents to complete governance voting, protocol calls, and even DeFi operations. As a16z pointed out: 'AI agents are transitioning from being passive tools to proactive market actors.'
AI Agents make 'decentralization' not only belong to humans but also start to extend to 'machine participants'.
Inevitable convergence of technological development trends
In the continuous evolution of AI technology, the rapid maturity of technologies such as GPT-like large models, Agent frameworks, TEE, and ZKP has cleared the obstacles for the implementation of AI Agents. Web3 just happens to provide the three essential infrastructures needed for AI's autonomous operation:
Identity System: Through DID and on-chain signatures, AI Agents can have independent 'identities' and access any protocol;
Value System: On-chain wallets and asset mechanisms enable AI Agents to manage funds, pay Gas, and receive incentives;
Execution System: Smart contracts and decentralized networks allow it to automatically invoke protocols and execute on-chain tasks.
The technological trend is transitioning from 'humans issuing commands, AI executing' to 'AI acting autonomously, verified on-chain', and Web3 is the only ecosystem that can support this closed loop.
Web3 users are increasingly seeking simplification
From the user's perspective, whether they are ordinary players or high-net-worth investors, they often face three major challenges when participating in Web3:
Complex operational processes: Participating in airdrops, deploying contracts, and on-chain interactions are cumbersome;
High knowledge threshold: Protocol rules are complex, and ordinary users often hesitate;
High attention and time cost: On-chain events change rapidly, and there are many on-chain interactions, almost requiring '24/7 standby'.
AI Agents can just provide practical support in these areas -
They can automatically execute contract interactions, order trades, or batch authorizations based on set strategies; help you monitor wallet risks, dApp changes, and airdrop condition changes in real-time; and assist in extracting data and summarizing information from platforms like Twitter, Discord, and Dune.
For investors with high daily activity or substantial capital, AI Agents act like an 'executive assistant': helping you save time, reduce operational errors, and seize on-chain opportunities.
In conclusion: AI Agents are not just a new concept
AI Agents are not just another 'new trend' in Web3; they are more like a delayed feature implementation.
In the past, the Web3 world continuously told beautiful stories of 'decentralized finance', 'data ownership', and 'user sovereignty', but many narratives remained at the level of concepts and infrastructure, even recently focusing on speculation, while lacking the last-mile bridge to the daily use and personal scenarios of real users.
Now, with the emergence of AI Agents, it provides a path: it no longer emphasizes concepts but responds to users' real operational anxieties and resource allocation challenges in a 'tool-oriented form', allowing the value logic of Web3 to be felt for the first time by an ordinary user.
If DeFi, NFT, and DAO are early attempts at decentralized ideals, then AI Agents are likely to be the one-stop interface that connects all of this for users' practical use.
We may be entering a phase where Web3 narratives no longer rely solely on imagination but can be 'used' at that moment.