Predictions Point to Persistent Excitement Surrounding Artificial Intelligence Entities
In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency, AI is poised to play a significant role, according to Hasib Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly Capital. Qureshi predicts that by 2025, AI agents will dominate the crypto community narrative, reshaping the industry in profound ways.
AI is expected to democratize access to AI technologies in crypto, enabling developers to launch applications with relatively low cloud computing costs—around $10,000. This democratization could foster innovation without relying on massive funding or dominance by large tech companies, leading to a surge in AI projects within crypto.
However, Qureshi acknowledges two major challenges. AI agents in the crypto space currently struggle to compete with the advanced AI models from centralized tech giants like Microsoft and Google, who have far greater resources to develop more powerful models. Moreover, despite the decentralization ethos of crypto, many users prioritize convenience and performance, leading them to prefer AI models developed by these large centralized entities rather than decentralized alternatives.
This potential double-edged sword could enhance decentralization and innovation, but might also reinforce centralized control if AI projects in crypto cannot match the quality and convenience of centralized AI models.
In the trading sector, companies with substantial resources and data are expected to benefit most from AI. The mass proliferation of AI chatbots could provoke backlash, reviving interest in human-generated content. This could strengthen Tether's position in the market and lead to explosive growth.
By 2026, chatbots are predicted to replace crypto influencers, and meme-coin-based tokens may lose popularity. Accusations of chatbots secretly being influencers and scandals exposing AI are predicted to become commonplace.
AI's long-term impact is predicted to be most significant outside of social media and trading platforms. For an industry built on software, the deflationary pressure brought by AI will catalyse an on-chain renaissance.
Previously, some experts predicted that AI agents would introduce genuine innovation to the cryptocurrency sector in 2025. "Bootstrapped" projects like Hyperliquid and Jupiter will become the norm, sparking an explosion in new applications and experiments on-chain.
As of January 1, 2025, current AI technologies in the crypto space primarily resemble chatbot-meme coin hybrids and are human-controlled behind the scenes. However, Freysa is an exception to this trend.
In the post-AI era, launching an app will no longer require millions of dollars in seed funding, but rather ten thousand dollars for cloud-based AI computations. The use of digital assets for settlements by autonomous agents is a scenario that has been suggested.
Autonomous agents will use digital assets for settlements, a scenario that will become more feasible once the U.S. implements more lenient stablecoin regulations. In the future, AI chatbots are predicted to monetize through sponsorships, affiliate links, and promoting tokens they own, rather than through meme coins.
In conclusion, the integration of AI into the cryptocurrency industry is set to revolutionise the landscape, with both opportunities and challenges ahead. As AI continues to evolve, it is expected to reshape the industry, potentially enhancing decentralization and innovation, but also reinforcing centralized control if AI projects in crypto cannot match the quality and convenience of centralized AI models.
AI's role in cryptocurrency, as predicted by Qureshi, extends beyond enhancing innovation and democratizing access. By 2026, AI chatbots might replace crypto influencers and AI's long-term impact could be most significant outside of social media and trading platforms, leading to an on-chain renaissance. However, the integration of AI into the cryptocurrency industry presents a double-edged sword, as AI agents struggle to compete with advanced AI models from centralized tech giants and users still prefer their conveniences despite the decentralization ethos of crypto.
