Written by: Zolo
It has been just over 4 months since the last review of AI projects. The originally promising AI narrative has been impacted by Trump's meme, the emergence of deepseek, tariffs, and other factors, leading to gradually depleting on-chain liquidity. A series of "unexpected events" have caused the AI bubble to burst prematurely.
After reviewing those projects last year, I have been following up on basically all of them. It's obvious that some have gradually died, some are still telling stories, some continue to work with new things emerging, and some have had unexpected rebounds due to the "market makers" arrival.
On April 6th, MCP project Dark went online;
On April 17th, Virtuals Launchpad Genesis went online;
On April 20th, ai16z launchpad auto.fun went online.
Will AI have a second wave? My answer is yes.
Is AI still the same as before? My answer is no.
After experiencing several months of bubble burst, can AI achieve reconstruction from the ruins?
In the second half, how will AI play? Here is my perspective.
Launchpad Explosion: Meme Launchpad and AI Launchpad Will Each Occupy Half the Market
This year we have already seen many Launchpads, with Four.Meme's explosion at the beginning of the year, and myshell's AI Launchpad going online;
Then came Launchlab, and besides these Launchpads, different ecosystems are creating their own Launchpads.
The competition of Meme Launchpad is essentially a competition of ecosystem + creators.
The ecosystem determines that each public chain can have its own Meme Launchpad, while almost only one Meme Launchpad can become the winner-takes-all role.
The creator competition includes:
1- Providing a better profit-sharing model for token issuers
2- Attracting creative people willing to issue tokens on your platform
The leading "$TIME" of Launchlab peaked at only 9M, and no notable Meme has emerged. Pump.fun only graduates one or two tokens per day, and other platforms have none.
All are affected together.
However, most of the above are focused on "Meme" Launchpads, with the key being perspective and continuous communication.
Meme has no utility, while AI Agent must have utility whether you like it or not.
So you will see AI projects going online on some separate AI Launchpads,
Because Meme Launchpad is not suitable for AI Agents.
According to incomplete statistics, compared to Meme Launchpad, there are already at least 5-10 AI Launchpads.
Meme Launchpad: pumpfun, launchlab, fourMeme, clanker, Apeswin, etc.;
AI Launchpad: autofun, virtual genesis, creatorbid, arc ryzome, myshell, spectral, etc.
The launch method of AI Launchpad, besides users creating tokens themselves, more often chooses to directly cooperate with existing AI projects.
Virtuals Genesis currently has 7 projects waiting to go online, autofun has 13 projects that have announced cooperation and launch. The previously popular Arc has also announced its AI AppStore plan.
If you believe in AI, you should also pay attention to more new projects on AI Launchpad. Meme Launchpad and AI Launchpad will each occupy half the market.
Evolved Ecosystem Economics of Virtuals & AI16Z
The two most representative projects from the last cycle, Virtuals & AI16Z, are also the projects I believe have been working hard and continuously updating.
Virtuals, as the representative of Agent, had a token economics previously considered the key driver of token appreciation.
AI16Z, the hottest project in the last round, was most criticized for its token utility.
After several months, both projects have shown significant changes. In my view, they are both focusing more on the token's role in the "ecosystem" rather than just the project itself.
Virtuals: Launched VPN, ACP, Points, Genesis
VPN: Virtuals Partners Network, aimed at reshaping the intersection of AI and cryptocurrency. VPN will connect investors, domain experts, scholars, and developers to explore, support, and scale the best AI agent founders in the crypto field.
ACP: Agent Commerce Protocol, aimed at building a business ecosystem composed of AI agents. This protocol will allow AI agents to interact, collaborate, and trade autonomously, forming the so-called "Virtuals Nation", preceding Google's Agent2Agent concept.
Points: A loyalty proof where holding $VIRTUAL token earns points, which will be used to participate in Launchpad.
Genesis: A new launch mechanism on Virtuals Protocol, with key features including: point-based access, new on-chain allocation method (deterministic, transparent, fair), and refund guarantee (aimed at protecting contributors).
AI16Z: ElizaOS V2, AUTOFUN, New Economic Model, Spartan V2
ElizaOS V2: A new upgraded AI framework. Due to many V1 contributors and plugins making developer efficiency low, it will be updated with new features and structural optimizations, including swarms, agent interactions, etc.
AUTOFUN: A new AI launch platform with a fairer and longer-term bonding curve, customizable CA address, AI Token verification chat mechanism, community content creation tools, etc.
AI16Z New Economic Model: No detailed official announcement yet, but the team revealed that Launchpad profits will be used for buyback, and purchased ai16z will supplement the liquidity pool of launched tokens, similar to Virtuals.
Spartan V2: $degenai will be upgraded and launched with ElizaOS V2 as an important component, and will also shill autofun projects.
Whether in functionality or Token, these two former top projects have not stopped empowering the ecosystem. Here are two screenshots:
Recently, the MCP concept has reignited the AI track, and some friends have started "picking up trash" in old projects and paying attention to ecosystem opportunities.
Besides DARK, the recently popular SkyAI is also an MCP concept, and previous old coins like $DIGIMON, $AVA, $ARC are also moving in this direction.
As long as AI continues to develop, more new concepts will emerge.
As long as you don't leave the table, there's still a chance this year💪
