Space Review | The Rise of the "Agent Economy" Driven by AI Agents and the Financial Infrastructure Layout of the Bank of AI

When the "lobster storm" triggered by OpenClaw swept through the community, AI Agents were completing a crucial leap from "chat tools" to "digital labor." As various applications ramp up their layouts, AI Agents have firmly established their core position as the new generation of infrastructure. They have not only completely overturned the paradigm of human-computer interaction but are also driving the industry from Web3 to Web4, reshaping the production relationships and value flows of the entire on-chain world.

In this round of Web4 evolution, Bank of AI stands at the intersection of technology and users. As an on-chain financial operating system specifically designed for AI Agents, Bank of AI is committed to paving the "last mile" of the agent economy, enabling developers to build vertical domain AI Agents with extremely low barriers through simplified underlying infrastructure.

This issue of Space Roundtable gathered practitioners and seasoned observers active in the industry, directly addressing the core business monetization proposition under the wave of intelligent agents. When AI Agents can fully automate on-chain operations, where will the impending new commercial dividends flow? In this deep dialogue focused on "human-machine collaboration and value reconstruction," we will deeply dissect this core issue, outlining clear participation paths and action guides for every builder and explorer in the wave of Web4.

Behind the "Lobster Farming" Sensation: The Rise of the "Agent Economy" Driven by AI Agents

Recently, with the explosive popularity of OpenClaw, the "nationwide lobster farming craze" quickly took over the internet. This hardcore upgrade of AI Agents precisely filled the most critical "proactive execution" puzzle in the Web4 architecture, officially announcing the full arrival of the agent economy era. In this issue's Space Roundtable discussion, several senior guests deeply analyzed the inevitability of this trend from different dimensions.

Crypto.0824 first pointed out the core logic of this evolution: AI is upgrading from an information processing tool to a task execution entity. "In the past, we had AI help us write things, do analyses, solving the problem of information preprocessing. But AI Agents are different; they can directly help us execute tasks." In his view, a series of standardized, programmable operations such as on-chain interactions, asset management, reward collection, and strategy execution are naturally suited for AI Agents to complete. He vividly described this shift with a metaphor: "It's like moving from manual driving to assisted driving; the user just needs to set the goal, and the rest is left to AI."

Following the thread of technological evolution, YOMIRGO analyzed it from a macro perspective of internet iterations. He emphasized that Web2 built the information network, Web3 reshaped the value network, and now Web4 is nurturing a highly autonomous "agent network." For a long time during the Web3 era, AI could not independently control funds and resources. The introduction of AI Agents broke this historical limitation, for the first time granting AI the rights to schedule and manage funds, fundamentally addressing the shortcomings of smart contracts lacking proactive execution capabilities.

He further proposed that AI Agents themselves have the potential to become "investable assets." For example, AI Agents can autonomously operate fans on social platforms and achieve commercial monetization, ultimately distributing profits accurately to the holders behind them through token economics. Regarding this disruptive ecological reconstruction, OxPink highly praised it as the "moment of the birth of the iPhone," he believes that the deep integration of AI Agents with the underlying value network is a historic turning point triggering the industry from Web3 to Web4.

Finally, Grace supplemented from a pragmatic perspective of user experience and industry scalability. She analyzed: "Web3 is essentially a highly programmable economic system, but the vast majority of operations still heavily rely on human intervention, which constitutes a huge bottleneck hindering ecological scalability." She emphasized that the emergence of AI Agents perfectly fills this systemic gap and is rapidly rising as the core intermediary connecting users and the on-chain world. Under the new architecture of Web4, users only need to "express intent," and the Agent will automatically take over and complete complex execution logic on-chain. This is not only a significant leap in user experience but also a key breakthrough driving the agent economy towards mass adoption.

As AI Agents Move Towards Automated Execution: Reconstruction and Opportunities in On-Chain Business Paradigms

As AI Agents transition from "information analysis" to "automated execution," the operational logic of the on-chain world is being rewritten. In this transformation, Bank of AI, as an on-chain financial infrastructure specifically designed for AI Agents, is paving the last mile for the agent economy. In the second round of discussions at this Bank of AI roundtable, guests engaged in deep discussions on "where new business opportunities will emerge when AI Agents can automatically execute on-chain operations."

Mr. Miss pointed out that while AI Agents have automated repetitive labor that previously relied on human effort, the real commercial breakthrough lies in the moment they can "connect on-chain and execute transactions." He predicted, as application scenarios continue to diversify, a batch of AI Agent development teams deeply rooted in vertical fields will inevitably emerge, with each niche track hiding enormous market potential. Additionally, he envisioned an AI Agent trading market similar to an "app store," where users can conveniently call mature strategies without building the architecture from scratch, simply paying as needed.

Following the "application market" thread, YOMIRGO further defined the future AI Agent market as the ecological "business hub." He pointed out that this hub will not only facilitate supply and demand but will also establish an AI Agent capability ranking and credit scoring system based on historical execution data. More disruptively, AI Agents themselves will evolve into a type of investable asset: "Through tokenization, users can either hire AI Agents for services on a per-use basis or purchase shares to share profits." At the same time, he reminded that the high-frequency interaction characteristics of AI Agents will greatly increase the demand for underlying infrastructure, with high-performance public chains like TRON and Solana likely to become core beneficiaries of this ecological dividend.

From developing vertical AI Agents to building an AI Agent market, from calling strategies on demand to hiring AI Agents to execute tasks, a new business landscape driven by agents is gradually becoming clear in the roundtable discussion. However, the true realization of these business opportunities relies on a set of underlying financial infrastructure that allows AI Agents to "live" independently on-chain. Bank of AI was born for this purpose.

As an on-chain financial operating system specifically designed for AI Agents, Bank of AI provides complete landing support for the aforementioned business landscape through the deep integration of five core components: the x402 payment protocol, the 8004 identity authentication protocol, the MCP Server, Skills, and the OpenClaw extension plugin.

First, for the previously mentioned "on-demand hiring and profit sharing" scenario, the x402 payment protocol grants AI Agents lightweight, low-cost on-chain payment capabilities, supporting automated settlement of high-frequency micropayments. This means that when a user hires a swing trading AI Agent, it can independently pay gas fees and complete profit sharing. Secondly, echoing the guests' proposal for a "credit scoring system," the 8004 on-chain identity protocol issues verifiable digital identities for each AI Agent. Under this system, users can confidently select AI Agents based on historical success rates, and AI Agents can participate in DeFi protocols with a trusted identity as independent entities, fundamentally establishing the trust foundation of the trading market.

In terms of lowering development barriers, the MCP Server serves as a standardized bridge between AI large models and blockchain services, thoroughly connecting the two. Developers do not need to write complex on-chain interaction code from scratch; they can drive AI Agents to call smart contracts and read on-chain data through standard interfaces. Meanwhile, the Skills module pre-installs reusable skill packages for DeFi operations, asset management, etc., while the OpenClaw extension plugin achieves extreme "plug-and-play," ensuring that any AI Agent integrated into this framework can instantly activate the full suite of on-chain financial operation capabilities.

The disruptive significance of this system lies in greatly unleashing productivity. When developers conceive a vertical domain AI Agent, they will be completely liberated from the burdensome underlying architecture of payment logic, identity verification, gas management, etc. With just simple standardized configurations, AI Agents can have exclusive on-chain wallets and verifiable identities, as well as the financial operational capabilities to autonomously receive and pay assets and interact with protocols. It can be said that Bank of AI is simplifying the process, making the business blueprint of "developing vertical Agents, building an Agent market, and hiring Agents for collaboration" move from concept to reality.