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 specific business activities with little or no human involvement.
It is easy to envision a future where AI agents become integral to our professional and personal lives — and crypto could serve as the foundational representation of the world these AI agents interact with.
This future is so easy to envision. That means that it is also easy to sell — and it is what will ultimately lead to the AI agent’s downfall.
The bust will be real
AI agents will be the new “buzz” that radiates out from crypto to the rest of the world throughout 2025. We will see a high cadence of new concepts dropping every other day and an “agent” advertised for every minor aspect of your life.
As the market picks up, it will become more complex and more challenging for investors to sort legitimate projects from the scams.
The ICO period saw projects promising to “solve all the world’s issues” by creating an ERC-20 token and a one-page white paper. The NFT peak saw thousands of generative “art” projects promising endless benefits to their holders. Similar false promises, money grabs and FOMO-driven marketing will define the AI agent era.
The result
Every project building legitimate AI agent technology will be background noise in the influx of shill money grabs over the next 12 months. Revolutionary tech will be shaded by memecoin generators, glorified copy traders, and hypercharged gambling bots.
Once the dust settles, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Although ICOs are dead, the use case of blockchain for fundraising has remained, and the remnants of its design are still tied to multiple DeFi use cases. NFTs are starting to have their resurgence, giving signs of long-term maturity.
AI agents will likely follow a similar pattern. The technology will over-bloom in the short term, with many retail investors being turned away, but in the long term, it will return with staying power.
Today’s agents are the ones breaking ground; the ones of tomorrow are capitalizing on the cash grab; and the ones of next week will reshape the future.
Let’s hope we can manage and direct these agents in a world where their influence, efficiency and decision-making power begin to outperform our collective human minds.
Opinion by: Sandy Peng, co-founder of Scroll.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.