🤖 Crypto Payments Are Coming for AI Agents
🤖 Crypto Payments Are Coming for AI Agents
Plus crypto majors, SOL memes and ETH NFTs all stage nice rebound rally.
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news:
Crypto majors rebound 2-3%; BTC leads at $61,300
Tron memes cool, SOL memes heat up
Story Protocol announces another $80M in funding for IP blockchain
Ripple execs raise $8M for AI agent crypto network
ETH NFTs continue rally, Pudgy's up to 10.4
🤖 Ripple Execs Launch Crypto Network for AI Agents
AI and crypto are two of the hottest emerging technology sectors across the globe.
Their intersection is inevitable.
And Ripple execs are trying to make it happen soon.
What Happened?
Former Ripple execs Amir Sarhangi and Craig DeWitt have launched a new company Skyfire, aimed at launching a crypto payments network for AI agents.
And yesterday they announced an $8.5M seed raise, with investors including Circle, Tim Draper, Gemini and more.
For a quick TLDR:
Problem: AI agents have difficulty self-transacting with credit card payments requiring human intervention and payment networks like Visa not meant for the types of microtransactions needed
Solution: an open-source payments system allowing AI agents to make purchases using crypto, autonomously (without human intervention)
Where: currently runs on Polygon, with plans to scale to additional blockchains soon
Currency: USDC
Fees: currently free, but may add transaction fees of 2-3%
Controls: Guardrail features like controlling how much agents can access, spend, rules for targeting lower-priced goods, and more
What Are They Saying?
Skyfire co-founder and CEO Amir Sarhangi told Decrypt:
“We believe that without this, AI just won't work. Whether it's us or someone else, someone will have to do this for AI.”
“It cannot be Visa, because those rails just do not support what AI needs, which is the ability to do microtransactions 24/7, with low fees, efficiently.“That’s all stuff that crypto and blockchain offer.”
“AI agents are going to be the next evolution of customers."
They are not alone, as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has also publicly commented that AI Agents in the future will need to transact in crypto.
Why It Matters
It seems abundantly clear that AI Agents are coming, and getting more useful and powerful by the month.
The idea that they will transact in crypto, an internet-based currency, makes sense.
And there's certainly a scenario where in the future, AI agents outnumber human crypto participants by orders of magnitude.
So how can one bet on that scenario?
One way is by investing in companies like Skyfire which will be selling the "picks and shovels" of the AI x Crypto movement.
It's certainly tough to pick winners this early, but it's important to track these new players and understand the landscape.
More AI-savvy users can also experiment with the tech and begin to build skillsets with AI agents.
The revolution is coming - it's time to prepare.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
ETH led NFT trading volume with $6.5M on the day (-12%); Solana was next with $2.2M, and then BTC with $1.5M
ETH NFT leaders were mostly green up 3-9%; Pudgy +9% at 10.3 ETH, BAYC -1% at 12.7 ETH, Azuki +2% at 4.65, Milady +2% at 4.03; Punks fell about 10% to 27.5
CDBs (+140%) and Cryptoadz (+37%) were other notable top movers
BTC NFT leaders were mostly red; NodeMonkes -2% at 0.124 BTC, Puppets -1% at 0.082 BTC, Quantum Cats -4% at 0.268
The Runes leaders were mixed; DOG +2% at $303M mc, RSIC -9% at $77M mc, PUPS +1% to $42M
Solana NFTs were mixed; Mad Lads -2% at 54 SOL, SMB Gen 2 -2% at 23, DeGods +19% at 36.7
Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult is launching a points system where users can stack donuts
Gordon Goner has taken the reins for the upcoming BAYC treasure hunt in a sign that Yuga is going back to basics
Doodles partnered with Zora to launching minting and trading of social shorts
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:
ENS partnered with Dentity to bring real-world identities onchain, allowing ENS holders to connect personal information to their ENS domain
Monad's "Monad Madness" pitch competition with $1M in prizes has just one week left to apply
Magic Eden's wallet went live on iOS and Android along with a $100k Mintfest prize pool
Optimism is hosting The SUNNYs, a Superchain awards ceremony with 540,000 $OP ($772,000) in rewards with anyone working on a Superchain blockchain eligible to apply
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
Crypto majors are green, up 2-3% this AM; BTC +3% at $61,200; ETH +2% at $2,640, SOL +1% at $144; Vitalik literally "bull posts" Ethereum
Memecoin majors are more green with DOGE +2%, PEPE +4%, WIF +7%, BONK +6%, MOG +13%
TRON memes cool off but SUNDOG holds at $211M mc; SunPump outperforms Pump Fun on the day
Kamala Harris's campaign pledged support for crypto in a roundtable yesterday at the DNC
McDonald's had its Instagram hacked and a memecoin $GRIMACE launched, briefly running past $5M before rugging
Story Protocol announced $140 million in total funds raised to build the World's IP Blockchain
Franklin Templeton published its latest crypto whitepaper on ETH Restaking and EigenLayer
🚀 Memecoin Movers
$SCF (+93%, $40M market cap, SOL)
$TRUMP (+50%, $180M market cap, ETH)
$BUB (+50%, $39M market cap, SOL)
$LOCKIN (+35%, $15M market cap, ETH)
$WDOG (+27%, $11M market cap, SOL)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)
Story Protocol - Onchain Chronicles (180%, 0.06 ETH Floor)
CryptoDickbutts S3 (140%, 0.39 ETH)
Matrix Kuku (63%, 0.87 ETH)
Cryptoadz (37%, 0.49 ETH)
Sproto Gremlins (23%, 0.63 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events
Today is a slower day of mints without any major highlights.
There is some life in the Solana meme market as Tron momentum slows, so perhaps watch for new runers there.
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
Xprotocol - Genesis Pass (10:00 a.m. ET)
Bitcoin Freaks (12:00 p.m. ET)
0xYung - Tarnished (12:00 p.m. ET)
Scerbo x Nguyen Wahed x Verse (1:00 p.m. ET)
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