Morning Minute | The Crypto AI Revolution Is Here

TylerD's Market Summary

📈 The Crypto AI Sector Soars Over Christmas Break

Many called it a fad.

Said it would be short-lived.

But after a run to a $17B overall market cap last week, with multiple tokens passing $1B, it looks like the AI Crypto sector is indeed here to stay.

And it might just be getting started.

What Happened?

The AI Crypto sector hit a market cap of $17.5B late last week, up a staggering 70% in just a week (currently $16.9B).

But it's more than just a market cap explosion.

AI has totally taken over mindshare for Crypto Twitter, reaching a whopping 70% total mindshare this weekend (Meme at 6% and DeFi at 5% are the next closest).

That is domination.

And it comes on the back of some massive wins. Just take a look at the market caps of the current AI leaders and where they were a month ago):

• VIRTUAL at $4.1B ($1.78B a month ago)
• AI16Z at $2.2B ($500M)
• FARTCOIN at $1.25B ($200M)
• FAI at $610M ($34M)
• AIXBT at $560M ($216M)
• GOAT at $523M ($780M)
• ZEREBRO at $500M ($325M)
• GRIFFAIN at $465M ($15M)
• ACT at $355M ($580M)
• ARC at $345M

Some of these coins didn't even exist a month ago (ARC). Several are up 4-5x or more (ai16z, FARTCOIN, FAI, GRIFFAIN). And only GOAT and ARC are red on the month.

But it's not just the leaders driving the market.

There has been an explosion of new AI Agents hitting the scene.

AI analytics site Cookie.Fun tracks over 900 agents now. And the pace of growth is accelerating.

In the past day, 3 new launches have come out and soared in their debut:

• HYPER explodes to $250M in its first 12 hours of trading
• GNZ soars to $50M in its debut
• HTERM opens at $30M

(See below for more information on each of these).

Demand for existing and new agents is off the charts.

Why It Matters

Even if you aren't a Crypto AI believer, this market (and its mindshare) has become too big to ignore. 

If you are a believer, there are reasons to be excited.

For one, this is still not a consensus trade. CT seems split down the middle with believers going all-in and calling for $100B+ overall market cap for the sector (I'm in this camp btw, and $100B is fud). And those who think it's all just vaporware, chatGPT wrappers, and/or a scam.

My view - there is certainly some vaporware/scams in a sector that has 900 agents. That's undeniable.

But there are true builders flocking to this space. AI agents operating onchain just makes sense. It's the end state for where autonomous, sentient agents will ultimately trade.

Those that see the vision are dedicating their time and resources to it.

And new narratives are forming. At the beginning, everything was in one big AI bucket.

• Now there are Agent platforms that are starting to be priced as L1s (Virtuals, ai16z, ZEREBRO, ARC, BULLY).
• There are the pure memes (FARTCOIN, GOAT).
• There are the pure Agents operating within niches (AIXBT, NFTXBT, POLY).
• And we're starting to see a wave of Apps producing games/experiences for users (FAI, GNZ).

The narratives will continue to shift. And the leaders are very likely to shuffle. It's very possible the "winners" aren't even here yet.

But the opportunity right now is simply too big to ignore.

Like it or not - AI Crypto is here to stay...

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• Ethereum led NFT trading volume with $18M on the day; Solana was next with $2.6M and then Bitcoin with $1.8M
• ETH NFT leaders were mostly green, led by Pudgy Penguins; Punks even at 38 ETH, Pudgy +8% at 24.2, BAYC +4% at 16.6 ETH, Azuki even at 12.35 ETH, Doodles -2% to 5.1 ETH
• Project AEON (+36%), Cryptoadz (+29%) and Cryptodickbutts S3 (+28%) led notable top movers; Denizens also jumped 280% to 0.12 ETH
• Kaito Genesis, the NFTs tied to Kaito and their new Yapper program, are holding at 4.14 ETH
• BTC NFT leaders were mixed; Bitcoin Puppets -5% at 0.138 BTC, NodeMonkes -6% at 0.12 BTC, OMB even at 0.171 BTC, Quantum Cats +2% at 0.335 BTC
• OCM Dimensions led top movers up 75% to 0.243 BTC, and Bitcoin Wizards up 10% to 0.126
• The Runes leaders were also mixed; DOG -1% at $734M mc, PUPS +1% at $97M, BDC +5% at $40M, GIZMO +3% at $13M
• AI NFTs lead top gainers over the weekend with:
  • Onchain Gaias jump 70% to 1.33 ETH
  • FAI NFT set 2049 / Reflections +50% to 0.75 ETH
  • Virtuals WAIFUs soar 500% to 0.2 ETH on Base, hailed as "mascot" of Virtuals
  • ai16z Partners up 50% to 5.5 SOL floor

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Macro Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are green this morning to kick off the week; BTC +2% at $99,200, ETH +1% at $3,650, SOL +1% at $216, XRP +2% at $2.40
• INJ (+13%), SAND (+10%), and AIOZ (+9%) led alts; RENDER, XDC and FIL also up 8-9%
• Bitcoin ETFs saw $900M in inflows on Friday, largest in weeks 
• Solana became Quantum Resistant, meaning it found a way to protect user funds against future quantum attacks
• Calls for a congressional probe into the FDIC activity related to Operation Chokepoint are getting louder after a recent unsealing of letters sent to banks
• Memecoin majors are also green this morning mostly up 1-2%; DOGE +1%, SHIBA +1%, PEPE even, PENGU +6%, BONK -1%, WIF -3%, MOG +5%
• PENGU passed 600,000 holders as it entered the top 50 crypto tokens by market cap at $2.85B
• Babyshark's web3 arm launched a BABYSHARK meme which soared past $200M this weekend before settling at $150M
• SPX jumped another 17% to $1.43B leading top meme movers
• Solana's new gaming meme MLG jumps 230% to $41M and BUTTHOLE meme jumps 55% to $100M
• Base's Kekius meme soars 135% to $580M and DICKBUTT jumps 240% to $24M

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $HYPER (+248,000% to $204M market cap, SOL)
• $GNZ (+30,000% to $42M market cap, SOL)
• $HTERM (+21,000% to $25M market cap, SOL)
• $WAVE (+400% to $30M market cap, SOL)
• $MLG (+250% to $44M market cap, SOL)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Denizens (290%, 0.12 ETH Floor)
• Karafuru (67%, 0.16 ETH Floor)
• ASM Brain (60%, 0.29 ETH)
• Project AEON (36%, 1.75 ETH)
• CrypToadz (29%, 0.76 ETH)

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