Beyond Memecoin, AI agents need more than just attention

Written by: 0xJeff

Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News

A lot of people are comparing Memecoin to AI agent tokens and saying they are basically the same thing. I think there is some truth to this, but it is not entirely correct.

What Memecoin and AI Agent have in common

Unlike DeFi or L1, where projects have clear metrics like TVL, volume, transactions, number of wallets, etc., no one knows how to price Memecoin.

Memecoin is all about:

Note: How many people are talking about it?
Virality: How effectively do memes spread online?
Hype: Is it a trend?

They don’t need a “real product”. In Memecoin, attention + tokens = product. That’s why their value can soar to billions of dollars, but you can’t find any reason why.

AI agents are similar. People get excited when:

Agents that focus on personality will sing, dance, or interact in interesting ways;
An agent focused on alpha will mine 5 gems a day.

In this case, again, it’s attention + token = product. Just like Memecoins, there is no clear way to “price” AI proxy coins, everything comes down to attention.

But, what is the difference?

With AI agents, you can’t rely solely on attention.

This space is already crowded with agencies, and to stand out, you need to be consistent in launching new products and engaging with the community. If you can’t keep updating every 2-3 days, you risk losing your audience.

The attention span of crypto Twitter is as short as that of a goldfish, no matter what you’re building:

DeFi AI Agent
A personality-driven agent,
an alpha sharing agent, or
Other new things...

You need to constantly offer people something new to maintain the connection.

You have to realize that you are playing a different game here: a game of attention.

In DeFi, you can quietly spend 3-4 weeks building something big, then release it and make a splash.

In AI agents, you can’t do that. In this space, attention is the product.

If you can’t capture your audience’s attention day after day, you’ll fail. People will move on to new, more enthusiastic, and active agents, and once momentum is lost it’s almost impossible to regain.

Current investment situation

Investing in AI agencies is not as easy as it was a month ago. Back then, independent agencies could easily achieve FDV of $10-20 million. Now? New independent agencies typically have FDVs between $1-5 million, and even then, they need to compete hard to stand out.

If you are an investor, what should you do?

Double down on mainstream AI agents with strong communities and real-world utility.
Be picky about small agencies: only invest when you are sure they have something truly unique and can compete in this crowded field.
If you don’t have time to watch the market, then accumulate proxy eco-coins such as $VIRTUAL, $AI16Z, $VVAIFU, $ZEREBRO, etc., and stay calm.