Opinion by: Sandy Peng, co-founder of Scroll.
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) were a revelation in decentralized crowdfunding, but the 2017 ICO boom and bust tarnished their name forever.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were groundbreaking for digital art and collectibles, but the fallout from the 2021 mania caused the public to reflexively associate “NFTs” with “scams.”
We have now entered 2025, and the next innovative technology set to be forever tainted by rampant overhyped shilling has arrived: AI agents.
AI agents trends
The hype is real
If somehow they were left untainted, AI agents could grow to become some of the most powerful tools in the industry.
DeFi AI agents can process real-time data to automate trading and optimize LP management. Intent-based AI trading agents can interpret user intentions and execute trades that align with a user’s financial and belief-driven goals.
Autonomous decision-making agents can make low-level, repetitive decisions while leveraging blockchain for transparency and accountability. AI helpers and advanced chat boxes could assist with the less user-friendly aspects of onboarding to Web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi).
AI agents like AnonCast are already using zero-knowledge proofs to enable anonymous online posting on social media. It’s a fun use case for now, but it could set the foundation for AI-assisted anonymity standards.
Recent: Here’s how everyday investors can beat algorithms using DeFi hedge fund AI agents
AI-driven liquidity management has already begun rolling out on DeFi platforms like Tempest Finance. Aperture Finance is using AI agents for large-scale portfolio management and trading automation.
Virtuals have introduced a modular AI agent ecosystem using ERC-6551 to represent each agent as an onchain entity with complete wallet control, image, video and text generation, and long-term memory.
Beyond crypto, big companies are also going all-in on AI agents. Microsoft announced the launch of their “personal agents,” which will be able to complete…
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