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Since early 2025, on-chain activity related to AI has surged by 86%, with daily active unique wallets (dUAW) reaching approximately 4.5 million. This has elevated AI’s dominance to 19%, second only to gaming at 20%. Considering its market share was just 9% at the beginning of the year, this marks a significant shift.
This explosive growth isn’t merely driven by hype—it reflects a structural change in how users interact with dApps. Whether through DeFi, social agents, or autonomous gaming assistants, AI agents are becoming a new layer of on-chain interaction. They aren’t replacing users but expanding their capabilities, enabling automation, optimization, and acting on their behalf.
The data supports this claim: AI has dominated Web3 discussions over the past month and is likely to define its next phase of development. This report explores the evolution of AI agents, their applications, the role of tokens, and the capital fueling this transformation.
Key Takeaways
AI’s on-chain dominance rose from 9% in January to 19% in June, with transaction activity growing by 86% and daily active unique wallets reaching 4.5 million.
As of June 2025, AI agent projects have raised $1.39 billion, a 9.4% increase over the total funding for 2024.
Since November 2024, 17,124 agents have gone live on the Virtuals Protocol, averaging over 85 new agents daily.
Despite a 64% drop from its early June peak, the AI token market cap remains at $5.9 billion, with a 24-hour trading volume of $1.4 billion.
Europe (26.2%) and Asia (21.9%) lead in AI dApp usage, followed by North America (15.8%).
1. What Are AI Agents?
AI agents are autonomous software programs capable of performing tasks, making decisions, or interacting with users based on goals, prompts, or real-time data. Traditional AI agents serve industries like finance, healthcare, or customer service, while the Web3 ecosystem is giving rise to crypto-native agents with unique capabilities and roles.
In Web3, AI agents are becoming increasingly specialized. Some act as on-chain DeFi agents, executing trades, managing yield strategies, or serving as portfolio "managers." Others are social agents, representing users in decentralized social apps, managing profiles, and even responding to messages. In gaming, a new class of native gaming agents has emerged—AI companions trained on game lore, mechanics, or player behavior to act as guides or even opponents.
This isn’t theoretical. According to cookie.fun, a platform tracking the agent economy, 1,748 AI agents are currently active across various environments. Since its launch in November 2024, the Virtuals Protocol—which allows users to create and deploy their own AI agents—has seen over 17,000 agents go live. The actual number may be higher, as multiple blockchains are now prioritizing infrastructure for agent creation, training, and deployment.
The agent economy is taking shape—and growing rapidly.
2. AI Agent Tokens: Utility, Hype, and Capital
In Web3, most AI agents aren’t launched in isolation but are accompanied by tokens. The role of these tokens varies based on the project’s vision. In many cases, they support community governance, grant access to premium features, or serve as fundraising mechanisms—especially since training and maintaining AI agents remains resource-intensive.
For others, tokens are purely capitalization strategies—ways to secure liquidity, reward early adopters, or ride market momentum. In some cases, they resemble meme coins wrapped in AI narratives, lacking technical substance but thriving on speculative fervor.
Despite the noise, the AI agent token market has made remarkable strides. At the time of writing, the total market capitalization of AI-related tokens stands at $5.9 billion, accounting for 0.18% of the broader crypto market. The 24-hour trading volume is equally notable, exceeding $1.4 billion.
However, recent trends have been less optimistic. Earlier this month, the sector’s market cap peaked at $16.6 billion, meaning it has shed 64% in just weeks. This decline reflects broader market conditions rather than a loss of faith in AI. But it also underscores the volatility of early-stage sectors, where token hype often outpaces utility.
AI agents are here to stay. But their tokens?
3. Top Blockchains Powering AI dApps
While AI agents are often the visible layer—interacting with users, executing transactions, or providing in-game assistance—their success hinges on underlying infrastructure. Blockchains supporting high-capacity AI dApps are laying the groundwork for agent deployment, training, and interaction.
From January to June 24, 2025, the following blockchains were the most active in AI dApp usage:
Matchain leads with nearly 1.9 million daily active users, indicating thriving AI infrastructure driven by social or agent-oriented dApps.
opBNB and Nebula follow closely, both showing strong adoption linked to lightweight or gamified AI services.
While not all these dApps currently deploy agents, the momentum is clear. As AI agent frameworks mature, these blockchains may host the next wave of autonomous agents—whether in DeFi, gaming, or social applications.
We may still be in the infrastructure-building phase of the AI agent boom, and these networks are leading the charge.
4. Where Are Users Coming From?
AI agents may exist on-chain, but their users span the globe. Understanding engagement by region provides insights into adoption trends, localization needs, and untapped opportunities.
From January to June 2025, Dapprader’s traffic data reveals:
Europe leads with 26.2% of AI dApp interactions.
Asia follows at 21.9%, with North America at 15.8%.
South America, though smaller at 2.5%, shows growing traction.
Notably, 33% of traffic comes from unspecified or hard-to-classify regions labeled "Other."
This global distribution confirms that AI agents aren’t region-locked. Whether it’s DeFi agents managing trades in Asia, social agents representing users in Europe, or gaming companions in North America, demand is diverse—and increasingly cross-continental.
As the industry matures, expect more regionalized agent behaviors, refined language models, and even culturally tailored agent personalities. For now, the playing field is wide open, and the race for user attention is global.
5. Capital Flowing Into AI Agents
The AI narrative continues to dominate headlines—and funding rounds. While centralized giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral have raised tens of billions, Web3’s AI agent economy is also gaining traction.
As of 2025, AI agent projects have secured $1.39 billion in funding, up 9.4% from 2024. This signals growing investor confidence that autonomous on-chain agents could be the next frontier. Though still dwarfed by centralized AI investments, this figure now rivals—or surpasses—other Web3 sectors like blockchain gaming.
The contrast is telling. Centralized AI still dominates, with hundreds of billions flowing into model development, chips, and infrastructure. But in Web3, investors increasingly see AI agents as a new "primitive" that could redefine how users engage with protocols, navigate dApps, or automate personal finance strategies.
The momentum is building. If sustained, 2025 could be the year AI agents attract more funding than any other Web3 vertical.
6. Conclusion
The rise of AI agents marks a profound shift in how users interact with decentralized systems. From DeFi traders and social companions to gaming-native assistants, agents are evolving from experimental bots into foundational infrastructure.
The numbers tell the story: Over 17,000 virtual agents have launched since late 2024. Even amid market downturns, the AI token market holds a $5.9 billion valuation. Agent-focused startups have raised $1.39 billion this year alone. And user engagement is global, with strong showings in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Challenges remain. Many tokens are driven more by hype than utility. Not all agents deliver on promises of autonomy. And cross-chain infrastructure is still uneven. But as tools mature and real-world use cases proliferate, the agent economy is approaching a new baseline—where interacting with on-chain AI isn’t the exception but the norm.
The race to build smarter agents, stronger ecosystems, and clearer standards is on. And we’re still in the early innings.
