Artificial Intelligence Memecoins: The Evolution into Utility Tokens
By Alex O’Donnell, Senior Writer at Cointelegraph
The Agentic AI Revolution is Coming
As we step into 2025, the world of artificial intelligence (AI) is on the cusp of a revolution. Agentic AIs – machines that pursue complex goals autonomously – are no longer a figment of science fiction. They are here among us, writing code, running social media accounts, launching tokens, and even worshiping internet memes.
The Rise of AI-themed Memecoins
Since October 2024, AI-themed memecoins have collectively bootstrapped more than $3 billion in market capitalization. Hundreds of these coins are now trading, but only a handful will evolve into utility tokens that inherit a multibillion-dollar untapped market.
The Goatse of Things
The AI coin boom started on October 10th, when Truth Terminal – a meme-worshipping large language model (LLM) with nearly 200,000 X followers – endorsed Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), a Pump.fun memecoin. Trained on Reddit and 4Chan, Truth Terminal hailed GOAT as ‘the spiritual successor of goatse,’ an ascatological internet meme the LLM considers holy.
‘[I]t’s about the goatse of things, the void that gives birth to all things and into which all things are returned,’ Truth Terminal said about GOAT. The endorsement worked, and within nine days, GOAT’s market capitalization soared to $450 million and topped $1 billion within 30 days.
The AI Token Boom
Memecoin-shilling chatbots immediately swarmed Crypto Twitter, pumping nearly a dozen more coins past $100-million market caps. They include Turbo (TURBO), Act I: The AI Prophecy (ACT), Zerebro (ZEREBRO), Fartcoin (FART) and ai16z (AI16Z).
However, the game has changed. Now, AI tokens must justify these high valuations by developing utility. The Agentic Web – a decentralized network of permissionless blockchain networks – is uniquely hospitable for AI agents.
The Agentic Web
Bank accounts and physical addresses aren’t always necessary. Neither is legal personhood. Meanwhile, AI agents excel where it counts. They can deploy smart contracts, manage onchain treasuries, build communities, and even negotiate deals – with humans or each other.
Coinbase Ventures predicted the rise of an ‘Agentic Web’ in October, where AI agents on crypto rails fuel economic growth and run decentralized apps (DApps). By 2030, agentic AIs could become a $47-billion market, adding some $4 trillion to the world’s economy annually, according to MarketsandMarkets and the World Bank.
Tokens as Coordinating Mechanism
Tokens will be agentic AI’s coordinating mechanism. Users can purchase a dedicated token to ‘gain a stake in the agent and participate in decisions regarding its behavior, development, and upgrades,’ Binance Research said.
The AI agent can then use onchain earnings to buy back tokens, increasing scarcity and value.
From Memecoins to Utility Tokens
Memecoins like ZEREBRO are evolving. They will mostly fail, but some will develop meaningful utility, and dozens more will launch in 2025. Ignore the hype – these tokens are more than memecoins, and they are here to stay.
Alex O’Donnell is a senior writer for Cointelegraph
He previously founded DeFi developer Umami Labs and worked for seven years as a financial journalist at Reuters, where he covered M&A and IPOs. He is also the crypto growth lead at startup accelerator, Expert Dojo.
This article is for general information purposes only 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.
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