Navigating The Agent Hype Cycle: Part II

The death of onchain agents was severely overstated, and excitement is back. Oasis is leading the new wave of interest with its announcement of WT3 running on Sapphire. For the past year two, crypto has watched the sector evolve from conversational novelties to a $10B powerhouse, crash, die, and then rebound again. 

Like every exciting novelty, there's a gap between narrative and reality, and agents are no different. But the gap is narrowing, the rate of change is accelerating, and keeping up is nearly impossible—a challenge compounded by the fact that no one can agree on what “agent” means. 

The following helps contextualize recent developments in the onchain agent sector and shows how to separate quality from pure hype. 

What is an AI Agent, Actually?

Ask five people this question, and you'll get five different answers. Many seem to be using agent as a synonym for any AI application. But one basic way to think of an agent is just an LLM running in a loop with tool use. It gathers context, reasons about it, makes decisions, and acts (either autonomously or with permission). But this definition covers pretty much everything from chatbots to theoretical AGI.

Last year, crypto latched onto a very specific version of this: conversational agents that combine an LLM with an X account and a token. The problem? Most were useless. A more mature version could look something like a perpetual loop where:

1. User provides high-level intent
2. The agent runs continuous research and analysis
3. Both share synchronized context
4. Execution occurs when jointly specified conditions are met

Instead of isolated bots shoveling slop (or, in rare cases, alpha) into the void, the next step is what teams like Hey Anon call AI Flows—continuous, bi-directional loops where an AI lives inside your workflow or app, sensing what the user sees, reasoning on-device, and helping to achieve goals. This is what’s coming. This is the endgame. And for crypto, this is about DeFAI. 

Check out the freshly launched trading agent WT3!  Fully autonomous, built on the Oasis TEE stack - follow its journey on X and learn more here: WT3.AI

DeFAI: The Merger of Two Megatrends

Many hate the acronym, but DeFAI is here to stay, and it’s going to be huge. Remember when DeFi exploded from $1B to $174B? DeFAI has even stronger fundamentals, broader appeal, and a significantly larger addressable market. In the near future, we could see single DeFAI projects exceeding $10B in market cap. 

Reasons why this could happen: 

• Revenue from day one: many projects launch with working products 
• Real token utility: beyond governance, tokens unlock product features
• Mass market accessibility: normies already understand and want AI
• Low entry barriers: projects rely less on VC funding, leveling opportunity 

The difference in maturity is stark. When DeFi first pumped, few projects had real, usable products, and tokens carried minimal or zero utility. Today's DeFAI tokens have the chance to differentiate with embedded rev-sharing mechanisms and real utility out of the gate. Currently, DeFAI is manifesting as:

• Trading agents that monitor markets 24/7 and execute based on conditions 
• Displays or feeds that add AI insights to an existing trading interface
• Wallet co-pilots where AIs manage positions, automate strategies, etc. 
• Data marketplaces that incentivize user contributions for model training 

Agents are rapidly becoming main characters. They’re abstracting away complexity, augmenting crypto consumer experiences, and hinting at a fully autonomous, interconnected agentic economy. But this isn’t here yet. And as agent-coded as the future might be, in the interim, it's not hard to get into trouble chasing the narrative. So, what can users, especially newcomers, do to protect themselves?

Understand The Game You’re Playing 

Separating signal from noise with agents is hard. When prices go up, it’s even harder.  First, keep in mind that interacting with agents can entail risks like social engineering exploits, underlying protocol risk, model reliability, decision transparency, and data privacy considerations. 

Next, for every blue chip project, there’s ten knockoffs. Many "agents" are still little more than wrappers with aggressive tokenomics. Many introduce new attack surfaces. Many aren’t autonomous. Many don’t actually do anything onchain.  Some give backdoor access. Some are outright scams. And some are probably going to 20x on nothing more than vibes. 

That’s okay, that’s just crypto. Price can have no correlation with reality. You can work to find the best teams. Prioritize agents with tangible outputs. Zero in on real monetization potential. And you can get outperformed by fartcoin. The bottom line: agent coins are extreme gambling, act accordingly.

Exercise Caution As Agents Develop

We're not prepared for the disruption caused by the arrival of a billion agents. Treat almost everything like a scam until proven otherwise, and you'll be well on your way to ‘winning by not losing.’ Big projects will incorporate agent frameworks (many already have) while last cycle's attention grabs give rise to agents that deliver real value. 

It will be fascinating to watch all this play out, but be skeptical toward new agents and tokens. Do not connect wallets to every shiny new product or protocol. Be wary of deepfakes, replies on X, and random DMs. Scrutinize anything airdrop-related.

Keep the basics in mind. Use hardware wallets, use burner wallets for experimentation, always verify addresses, use bookmarks, double or triple-check large transfers, learn about tx history poisoning and arbitrage bot scams, and never rush into signing transactions. 

Final Thoughts

A lot of success in crypto comes down to surviving or making sense of the chaos early. Keep your head down, do research, and remember that beneath all the noise, a genuine revolution in human-machine collaboration is happening. The winners won't necessarily be the loudest voices, but those quietly building, contributing, and investing in a world where intelligence flows like information.

Check out the freshly launched trading agent WT3!  Fully autonomous, built on the Oasis TEE stack - follow its journey on X and learn more here: WT3.AI

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