The Rise of AI Agents in the Blockchain Field: Development Trends, Application Scenarios, and Market Impact

Recent data shows that AI-related on-chain activities have seen significant growth. Since the beginning of the year, the number of daily active unique wallets has increased by 86%, reaching approximately 4.5 million. AI's dominance in the blockchain space has reached 19%, second only to gaming applications at 20%. Considering that AI's market share was only 9% at the start of the year, this change is quite remarkable.

This rapid growth is not merely due to short-term speculation, but reflects a structural change in how users interact with decentralized applications. Whether in the fields of DeFi, social, or gaming, AI agents are becoming a new on-chain interaction layer. They do not replace users, but rather expand user capabilities by automating, optimizing, and interacting on behalf of users.

This article will explore the development history of AI agents, application scenarios, token roles, and the scale of capital supporting this transformation.

Key Findings

• In June, the dominance of AI on the blockchain rose from 9% in January to 19%, with trading activity increasing by 86%, and the number of daily active unique wallets reaching 4.5 million.

• As of June 2025, AI agent projects have raised $1.39 billion, an increase of 9.4% compared to the total financing amount for the entire previous year.

• Since November 2024, there have been 17,124 agents online on a certain protocol, with an average of more than 85 new agents added daily.

• Despite the market capitalization of AI tokens dropping 64% from its peak in early June, it still stands at 5.9 billion USD, with a 24-hour trading volume of 1.4 billion USD.

• Europe ( 26.2% ) and Asia ( 21.9% ) are the regions where AI applications are most used, followed by North America ( 15.8% ).

AI Agency Overview

AI agents are autonomous software programs that can perform tasks, make decisions, or interact with users based on objectives, prompts, or real-time data. In the Web3 ecosystem, crypto-native agents with unique capabilities and roles are emerging.

AI agents in Web3 are evolving towards specialization. Some act as on-chain DeFi agents, executing trades, managing yield strategies, or serving as "portfolio managers". Others are social agents that represent users in decentralized social applications, managing profiles, and even responding to messages and interactions. In the gaming sector, a new class of native game agents has emerged; these AI companions are trained on game backgrounds, game mechanics, or player behaviors, acting as useful guides or even becoming opponents.

According to data platform statistics, there are currently 1,748 AI agents active in various environments. Since the launch of a certain protocol in November 2024, which allows users to create and deploy their own AI agents, over 17,000 agents have been launched. The actual number may be higher, as multiple chains are currently prioritizing the construction of infrastructure for the creation, training, and deployment of AI agents.

AI Proxy Token: Utility, Speculation, and Capital

In Web3, most AI agents are not launched individually but come with tokens. The role of these tokens depends on the project's vision and can serve multiple functions. In many cases, they are designed to support community governance, provide access to premium features, or act as a fundraising mechanism for development, especially in situations where training and maintaining AI agents still require significant resources.

For other projects, tokens are merely a capitalization strategy, a means to obtain liquidity, reward early adopters, or leverage market momentum. In some cases, they resemble speculative coins dressed in AI cloaks, issued around vague agency narratives, lacking technical substance, merely riding the wave of speculative frenzy.

Despite the various noises in the market, the AI proxy token market has still made remarkable progress. As of now, the total market capitalization of AI-related tokens has reached 5.9 billion dollars, accounting for 0.18% of the entire cryptocurrency market. The daily trading volume in the past 24 hours is also quite considerable, exceeding 1.4 billion dollars.

However, the recent trend is not optimistic. At the beginning of this month, the market value of the AI agent sector was $16.6 billion, which means that the market value of this sector has shrunk by 64% in just a few weeks. This decline reflects the broader market conditions, not just the attitude towards AI. But it also indicates the volatility inherent in early-stage sectors, where token speculation often outweighs actual utility.

Major Blockchains Supporting AI Applications

Although AI agents are typically the visible layer used to interact with users, execute transactions, or provide in-game assistance, their success largely depends on the underlying infrastructure. Blockchains that support high-capacity AI applications are effectively laying the foundation for the deployment, training, and interaction of AI agents.

From January 2025 to June 24, 2025, the following Blockchains performed the most actively in terms of AI application usage:

A certain blockchain dominates with nearly 1.9 million daily active users, indicating that AI infrastructure is thriving driven by social or agency-facing applications. Another certain blockchain follows closely behind, both showing strong usage rates associated with lightweight to gamified AI services.

Although not all of these applications have deployed agents at present, their development momentum is evident. With the maturity of AI agent frameworks, these Blockchains may usher in the next wave of autonomous agent trends, whether in DeFi, gaming, or social applications.

Currently, it may still be in the infrastructure construction stage of the AI agent boom, and these networks are leading this process.

User Geographic Distribution

AI agents may exist on the blockchain, but their users are spread across the globe. Understanding the sources of user participation helps to gain clearer insights into adoption trends, localization needs, and potential market opportunities.

From January to June 2025, according to data from the data platform, Europe is leading in interactions with AI-related applications, accounting for 26.2%. Following closely is Asia, with 21.9%, and then North America, with 15.8%. South America has a smaller share at 2.5%, but its user base is continuously growing. Interestingly, 33% of the traffic comes from unspecified or hard-to-classify regions, collectively referred to as "others."

This global distribution indicates that AI agents are not limited to a specific region. Whether it's DeFi agents managing transactions in Asia, social agents representing users in Europe, or gaming partners interacting with players in North America, the demand shows diversity and is increasingly characterized by a cross-continental nature.

As the industry matures, it is expected that more localized agency behaviors will emerge, better language modeling will be developed, and even agent personalities with specific regional characteristics will appear. Currently, the competitive landscape is very broad, and the competition for user attention is global.

Capital Flow in the AI Agency Sector

AI narratives continue to dominate news headlines and funding rounds. Although some centralized AI giants have raised billions of dollars, the AI agent economy in Web3 is also beginning to attract attention.

As of 2025, AI agent projects have raised $1.39 billion, an increase of 9.4% compared to 2024. This indicates that investors are increasingly convinced that autonomous on-chain agents may become the next frontier. Although this figure is still far lower than the investment amount in centralized AI, it is noteworthy that the funding in the AI agent space is now comparable to or even surpasses that of other Web3 segments such as blockchain gaming.

This contrast is significant. Centralized AI investment still dominates, with hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into model development, chips, and infrastructure. However, in the Web3 space, investors are increasingly viewing AI agents as a new "primitive" that can reshape the way users interact with protocols, navigate applications, and even automate personal finance strategies.

This momentum is strengthening. If this momentum continues, 2025 may become the year when AI agents attract more funding than any other Web3 vertical.

Conclusion

The rise of AI agents marks a profound shift in the way users interact with decentralized systems. From DeFi traders and social partners to game-native assistants, agents are rapidly evolving from experimental robots into infrastructure.

These numbers corroborate this statement. Since the end of 2024, more than 17,000 virtual agents have gone live. Even in a sluggish market, the AI token market size has reached 5.9 billion dollars and continues to grow. Just this year, startups focusing on agents have raised 1.39 billion dollars in funding. Moreover, user participation is global, showing strong performance in Europe, Asia, and North America.

However, challenges still exist. Many tokens are driven more by speculation than by practicality. Not all agents can fulfill their promises of autonomy. Moreover, cross-chain infrastructure remains uneven. But with the maturation of tools and the proliferation of real use cases, the agent economy is approaching a new baseline, where interaction with on-chain AI is no longer an exception, but the norm.

The competition to create smarter agents, a more powerful ecosystem, and clearer standards has already begun. However, it is still in the early stages.