In the fourth quarter of 2024, the market value of AI agents increased by 322%, from $4.8 billion in October to $15.5 billion in December.
In Q4 2024, the market value of AI agents jumped 322% to $15.5 billion.
According to CoinGecko’s 2024 “Annual Crypto Industry Report,” released on January 14, AI agents became popular after the Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) currency was introduced on Solana in October 2024.
AI agents are self-governing software applications that use artificial intelligence to carry out tasks; they are frequently essential parts of blockchain ecosystems or decentralized finance (DeFi). These agents can be anything from innovative contract-interacting decision-making systems to automated trading bots.
Solana leads the market for AI agents.
With a market capitalization of $8.44 billion and a 56.48% market share, Solana has become the leading blockchain for AI agents. According to data from Cookie. Fun, the blockchain also held the top social media mindshare, with 64.34%. The amount of focus, awareness, and interaction a business or organization receives on social media is called mindshare.
With initiatives like AIXBT and Virtuals Protocol, Base, a layer-2 blockchain supported by Coinbase, gained popularity and now commands a market capitalization dominance of over 40.57%.
Following a paper by Franklin Templeton that emphasized the potential for AI agents, tokens associated with these agents gained value. In early trade on January 15, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) increased by more than 8% to over $3, while ai16z (AI16Z), an investment DAO driven by AI agents, had a 20% increase to $1.40.
“We can envision a future where AI agents play an integral role across various industries and platforms and revolutionize content generation on social media,” the paper said.
Broader developments in the cryptocurrency industry
The emergence of AI agents followed a robust fourth quarter for the cryptocurrency industry.
In December 2024, Bitcoin BTC$98,941 attained a record high of $108,135 and contributed to a 45.7% increase in the total value of the cryptocurrency market, reaching $3.91 trillion. Bitcoin increased by 121.5% in 2024.
Dogecoin DOGE$0.3648 and XRP$2.84 both had a successful year. In market capitalization, XRP rose from seventh to fourth place, and Dogecoin made its way into the top seven, taking the place of USD Coin USDC$1.00 for the first time since 2021.
Ethereum layer-2 solutions are becoming more popular.
According to CoinGecko, Ethereum’s layer-2 networks experienced tremendous expansion in the fourth quarter, with the top 10 layer-2 solutions handling an average of 15 million daily transactions.
With 48.3% of transactions, Base accounted for the majority of activity. Due to the introduction of new DeFi protocols, Taiko increased by 85.5% every quarter, surpassing Arbitrum as the second most active layer-2 network.
Solana leads DEX trading.
With over 30% of trading volume, Solana emerged as the leading blockchain for decentralized exchanges (DEXs) in the fourth quarter.
Ethereum’s trading volume of $184.3 billion was surpassed by Solana’s $219.2 billion. The base also gained popularity by December, holding a 19% market share.
In the meantime, Tron’s trade volume increased by 232.7% per quarter, making it the fastest-growing blockchain among the top 10.
