11 Best AI Agent Crypto Coins to Watch in 2025
The final months between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 have been exceptionally good for the crypto market. As of mid-January 2025, the market's two leading assets, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), have posted three-month growth rates of around 48% and 28%, respectively. However, these numbers pale in comparison to the boom in one specialized niche of the cryptocurrency world ā the category of AI agents. Many leading assets in this category have achieved three-month growth rates in triple and even quadruple percentage numbers. The category's current star performer, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), has appreciated in price by over 4,000% during this period.
To say that AI agent tokens are now all the rage in the market amounts to a gross understatement. These assets are growing at unprecedented rates, and unlike meme coins, which are also known for recent meteoric rises, AI agent cryptocurrencies are propped up by some of the most innovative technologies invented by humanity āartificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
In this article, weāll look at the 11 best AI agent cryptocurrencies that should be on the 2025 watchlist of any crypto investor who has an appetite for risk and investment in innovative assets.
Key Takeaways:
The AI agent sector of the crypto market has been experiencing massive growth rates at the junction of 2024 and 2025.
These 11 AI agent cryptocurrencies in our review are some of the key assets to watch in 2025 for investors interested in AI technology or high-risk/high-return investment opportunities.
Some of the leading AI agent crypto coins include VIRTUAL, AI16Z, GRIFFAIN, ZEREBRO and ARC.
What Are AI Agents in Crypto?
AI agents are smart programs, based on AI and ML technologies, capable of autonomously executing sophisticated actions that generally require human oversight or reasoning abilities. On blockchain platforms, AI agents independently perform automated trading on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, monitoring of markets and news, posting on social media networks, participating in games, executing governance procedures on decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and more.
AI agents are a more sophisticated form of bots, which were earlier autonomous programs. While bots are capable of executing some predefined actions based on certain triggers, AI agents can carry out more advanced actions, including learning from their own behaviors and adjusting their performance based on them.
With the growth of the AI sector in the web3 world, AI agents have found use cases in a wide variety of crypto-based applications. Within the web3 industry, AI agents are typically tokenized on blockchain in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or, in some cases, fungible cryptocurrencies. In turn, cryptocurrencies are also used to monetize the revenue-generating activities of AI agents. For instance, a DeFi AI agent might accumulate the revenues from its trading activities in the cryptocurrency used to power its functionality.
As such, AI agent cryptocurrencies are typically issued for the direct purpose of enabling agents' operations. In some cases, these cryptocurrencies might also represent utility or governance tokens on AI agentārelated platforms.
Top AI Agent Crypto Coins
The AI agent category is one of the highest-growing niches (if not the highest-growing niche) in the crypto market. In our review, weāve included 11 crypto tokens from this category that investors interested in AI technology and potentially making a profit in a high-growth/high-risk investment environment are advised to keep an eye on. Below, we report prices, market caps and other relevant statistics for these assets, valid as of the day of writing (Jan 16, 2025). Please note that this category is highly volatile, and the numbers can therefore change rapidly.
1. Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL)
The first AI agent crypto we start with is also the one thatās currently making the biggest splash in the sea of AI-based web3. Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) is a decentralized protocol on the Base Layer 2 chain. It lets anyone create and deploy autonomous AI agents for a variety of use cases. The protocol's AI agents are characters that interact with other users, trade on DeFi platforms, participate in social media discussions, monitor markets and perform countless different activities.
Using the protocol, you can create co-owned agents with revenue-generation capabilities. Besides the platformās native token, VIRTUAL, the protocol supports the issuance of other AI agent cryptos that power the tokenization and monetization of specific agents and activities. Demand for its AI agents continues to rise, with approximately 14,600 agents cumulatively launched since Nov 2, 2024.
Source: Franklin Templeton|X
The VIRTUAL token is experiencing a massive surge, having appreciated by more than 4,000% over the past three months. This is one of the best performances across the entire crypto market and within the high-growth AI agent niche. The token's current price is $3.70, and its market cap stands at $3.66 billion, making it one of only three AI agent cryptocurrencies to sport a market cap of over $1 billion.
2. ai16z (AI16Z)
ai16z (AI16Z) is a DeFi platform that uses a powerful AI agent, āMarc AIndreessenā, to make investment decisions and allocate users' funds as a full-fledged investment manager. The Solana (SOL)ābased protocol can take the credit for being the world's first truly AI agent-managed venture capital (VC) outfit. Of course, ai16z and āMarc AIndreessenā are tongue-in-cheek references to a16z, also known as Andreessen Horowitz, and its co-founder, Marc Andreessen. Besides the resemblance in names, however, the ai16z protocol has no connection to the investment world's giant or its famous co-founder.
The platform adopts a community-driven governance and decision-making model. Holders of the AI16Z token, collaborating as a DAO, propose potential projects and assets for āAI Marc'sā consideration. The AI agent has the final say on how to invest the community's funds and manage the investments.
Launched in late October 2024, the AI16Z token has been on the market for less than three months. In this short time frame, this AI agent cryptocurrency has grown in value by more than 2,200%, rising to the third position by market cap in the AI agent category. Clearly, investors feel enthusiastic about AI agentābased crypto investment management.
Currently, AI16Z is trading at $1.50 and has a market cap of $1.65 billion.
3. AIXBT by Virtuals (AIXBT)
AIXBT by Virtuals (AIXBT) is an AI agentābased crypto market intelligence and monitoring solution. Itās one of the solutions and tokens leveraging Virtuals Protocol to power their operations to support specific use cases. AIXBT focuses on tracking external sources to deliver the best possible market insights and intelligence. As such, it tracks and analyzes the opinions of hundreds of key opinion leaders (KOLs) in the crypto trading and investment sphere to guide users to the best possible opportunities.
As of the time of writing, AIXBT is trading at $0.882 with a market cap of $756 million.
4. Griffain (GRIFFAIN)
Griffain (GRIFFAIN) is another AI agent platform built on the Solana blockchain, specifically focusing on automating DeFi operations. Using Griffain's AI agents, cryptocurrency users and traders can automate tasks like NFT minting, wallet operations and token swaps.
Two primary types of agents are available via the platform ā personal agents and special agents. The former are used for common on-chain operations ā such as wallet management and data analysis ā while the latter are utilized for more sophisticated activities, e.g., NFT flipping or token sniping.
The platformās native token, GRIFFAIN, is trading at $0.5682, with a market cap of $566 million.
5. Zerebro (ZEREBRO)
Zerebro (ZEREBRO) is an AI-powered automated content creation engine. As a smart computer program, Zerebro can listen to and analyze content and narratives across various web3 and social network environments. It then automatically creates and disseminates creative content generated based on the analyses. The content generation engine focuses on art, music and memes. In particular, its content generation AI models are fine-tuned to create thought-provoking content with the potential for virality.
The ZEREBRO tokenās current price is $0.322, and its market cap stands at $326 million.
6. AI Rig Complex (ARC)
AI Rig Complex (ARC) is a framework developed in the Rust programming language to help integrate AI services and agents into web3 platforms. It provides tools to easily create highly modular, scalable AI applications capable of listening and adapting to user interactions and context. The platform offers developers a set of libraries based on Rust to create high-performance AI systems that can be embedded into various apps and environments.
The platformās native cryptocurrency, ARC, is currently trading at $0.48 and has a market cap of $481 million.
7. Phala (PHA)
Phala (PHA) is a decentralized platform that offers a highly secure environment in which to run AI models. The platform provides a trusted execution environment (TEE), in which AI algorithms can be executed, thatās protected with encryption to ensure the highest degree of security. After AI computations are processed on the TEE off-chain, the data is moved to an on-chain environment for further validation. Phalaās technology combines the security of trusted execution with high scalability, and represents a fusion of blockchain and cloud processing.
The platformās native token, PHA, currently trades at $0.3565, with a market cap of $276 million.
8. Swarms (SWARMS)
Swarms (SWARMS) is a web3 app that offers businesses AI agents to automate diverse tasks and procedures. Many of the AI models and solutions offered by Swarms are based on large language models (LLMs), a type of generative AI technology thatās become highly popular after the introduction of ChatGPT. Swarms also offers solutions whereby multiple AI agents collaborate to complete complex tasks, with each agent specializing in one specific job function.
The SWARMS token is trading at $0.207 and has a market cap of $208 million.
9. Ava AI (AVA)
Ava AI (AVA) is an AI agent that acts as your personal assistant to automate a variety of work tasks and streamline your general workflow. Ava is the first AI agent launched via Holoworld AI, a platform that lets you create highly customizable virtual assistants with unique traits. Using Holoworld AIās agent creation tool, you can choose specific configurations for your agent, such as its personality, looks, skills, voice and even wearables.
The Ava AIābound cryptocurrency, AVA, is currently trading at $0.2675, with a market cap of $276 million.
10. Alchemist AI (ALCH)
Alchemist AI (ALCH) lets users create and deploy AI agents and applications without coding by using natural language prompts. Alchemist AIās platform leverages LLM algorithms to analyze usersā input and identify key requirements, features and functionalities for the desired applications. It then automatically generates production-ready code for the front-end and back-end components of the system. The application generated via Alchemist's AI models even undergoes testing for further fine-tuning and adjustments. Finally, the application is integrated with external services and platforms using a set of APIs.
Alchemist's ALCH token is trading at $0.1579, with a market cap of $134 million.
11. Fartcoin (FARTCOIN)
We end our list with a meme coin, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN), rather than a classic AI agent cryptocurrency, since this crypto was largely inspired by an AI chatbot called Truth Terminal. The Truth Terminal bot was created in 2024 by New Zealander Andy Ayrey to promote a meme-based quasi-religion online. It has invited copious discussions on the use and dangers of AI bots and associated technology.
In response to the Truth Terminal experiment, an anonymous developer launched Fartcoin on Solana in October 2024. Fartcoin aims to promote humor, community engagement and a lighthearted approach to cryptocurrency by leveraging good old meme culture.
Despite its humorous nature, the FARTCOIN token has been embraced by the market in the most serious way. Between its launch date in late October 2024 and Jan 16, 2025, the token's price increased by more than 4,900% and currently stands at $1.25, with a market cap of slightly over $1 billion.
Closing Thoughts
The AI agent coins we've discussed in detail above are currently enjoying unprecedented attention from investors. Many of these assets may continue to deliver excellent returns in the future as well. At the same time, itās advisable to keep in mind the volatile nature of this niche, as outstanding returns come with the risk of sudden declines and negative growth rates. Thus, before investing in any of these cryptos, be sure to carry out your own research on each projectās specifics, background and future plans.Ā
Regardless of your immediate investment goals, these AI agent cryptocurrencies are worth keeping an eye on as 2025 progresses.
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