Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Nan Zhi (@Assassin_Malvo)
A New Round of Technological and Business Model Turning Points Has Arrived
Over the past century, various industries have experienced countless technological explosions, each bringing disruptive changes to production methods and redefining business models. Many giants have fallen due to their failure to adapt their underlying logic in a timely manner, while countless new forces have risen in response to the wave of change.
In recent years, the rise of AI technology has once again triggered a similar paradigm shift. From breakthroughs in deep learning to the widespread adoption of natural language processing, and the extensive application of generative AI in content creation, healthcare, finance, and other fields, AI is permeating all aspects of society at a speed that surpasses previous technologies. Its potential to enhance human productivity and innovate business models cannot be ignored.
Since the explosive popularity of ChatGPT, the Crypto industry has seen a surge of AI-related projects, but most are project-centric without a systematic ecosystem or application network. Startups struggle to stand out, and users and liquidity are fragmented across numerous networks, with the development of ecological layers still in its infancy.
In fact, as early as the beginning of 2023, BNB Chain embarked on its AI ecosystem layout journey with a forward-looking strategic vision. Multiple products, including MyShell, have completed significant user accumulation and foundational education. At the same time, BNB Chain has a substantial amount of accumulated funds, and the demand for excellent products in the AI boom is more urgent, increasing the probability and ceiling for project development hits. After years of operation, BNB Chain's infrastructure has become increasingly refined, capable of matching user trading needs and serving as a solid foundation for AI development.
How to seize the opportunity in this new round of technological turning points? The AI First concept has emerged. This concept does not view AI as a tool or an additional element but integrates it into every step of business logic, decision-making processes, and product design as a fundamental way of thinking. BNB Chain not only provides development opportunities for projects but also takes the lead in incorporating the AI First concept into the ecosystem's AI development, aiming to guide the trend of AI development with a higher-level, disruptive development mindset.
The AI Wave Sweeps Through Crypto, Where Is the Industry Headed?
In the early days of ChatGPT's popularity, new projects in the Crypto industry primarily focused on introducing AI tools into specific segments, leveraging AI to empower Crypto. For example, trading information tools like Paal AI and AI games like Sleepless AI.
During the subsequent period of rapid AI development, the massive demand for data and computing power led to the emergence of a series of Crypto projects empowering AI, including Aethir and io.net in computing power, and Nimble Network, Aggregata, and several others in data.
However, despite the countless AI projects that have emerged over the past two years, very few have truly succeeded and survived. Apart from the ongoing development of AI technology itself, various reasons such as the lack of collaborative synergy at the ecological level and the wild growth of projects have led to the untapped potential of projects and developers:
The explosive growth of L1 and L2 has resulted in fragmented liquidity and hindered user migration, which has also obstructed the development of AI projects. Whether the chosen starting ecosystem for a project has sufficient liquidity, a solid user base, and long-term cultural accumulation is crucial for the project's growth speed.
The focus on short-term demand has led to severe homogenization of projects, with similar application scenarios and technical paths. Project competition often relies more on funding and operations rather than technology, making it easier for teams with strong funding and operations to stand out, while projects with excellent technology but lacking funding and support struggle to gain visibility. Although platforms like Virtuals have alleviated this issue to some extent, they require sufficient funds, users, and trading infrastructure within the ecosystem to cooperate.
There is a lack of interaction between AI projects in different tracks, failing to amplify product effectiveness and lacking component-based development products like LangChain. While products like Eliza and Eternal AI have made initial progress, there is still significant room for long-term development and a need for higher-level aggregation.
From an ecological perspective, BNB Chain is fully embracing the AI wave, aiming to secure a place in the AI field through substantial financial support, deep technological empowerment, and precise control of future trends. The broad stage it has built provides unprecedented growth opportunities for various projects.
Why BNB Chain Will Be a Fertile Ground for the Flourishing AI Ecosystem?
Early Investment in the AI Ecosystem
BNB Chain has long been laying the groundwork for its AI strategy. In the sixth phase of Binance Labs' project incubation, it nurtured AI projects like MyShell and NFPrompt, which have built a substantial and solid user base on BNB Chain and opBNB. For instance, according to previous statistics, as of the third quarter of this year, there have been 540,000 addresses participating in on-chain activities.
In the subsequent MVB VII, 6 out of 13 projects were in the AI track, and in the eighth phase of MVB, there were 9 AI projects, with attention continuing to rise. The subdivision of fields is also continuously expanding, with three projects in the sixth phase of incubation leaning towards applications and application development. Several phases of MVB include foundational infrastructure in data like Nimble Network, Gata, AlayaAI, Codatta, as well as the recently popular AI Agent track projects like Holoworld AI and Aspecta. Every AI sub-track falls within the scope of BNB Chain's attention and support.
Aligning with Trends and Providing Support
BNB Chain not only recognized and focused on developing AI in the initial stages before the wave arrived but is also gradually increasing its attention and support for this track. On December 21, BNB Chain and Binance Labs launched the application for the ninth phase of MVB, with the official announcement stating that this phase will focus on the AI track, including AI Agents, AI games, data labeling, DataDAO, and other sub-sectors.
At the same time, Binance Wallet's Binance Alpha has re-exposed some mature AI projects. Among the 38 tokens launched in the first six phases, 13 belong to the AI track, including the Agent protocol AICell and AI infrastructure ChainGPT. After these two projects were launched on Binance Alpha, they achieved price increases of 66% and 58%, respectively.
Whether for startups or mature projects, they can receive ample exposure and resource support in BNB Chain's AI-centric development strategy, allowing teams to focus on project development and fully unleash product potential in a favorable environment.
Why BNB Chain Will Be a Fertile Ground for the Flourishing AI Ecosystem?
In the previous section, we mentioned two mainstream directions: "AI tools participating in Crypto operations" and "decentralization providing AI foundational resources." Recently, Virtuals and pump.fun have showcased a third path combining attention economy and AI development—projects launch their tokens in a high-exposure environment, showcasing project results and disclosing progress across various social media and technical platforms, allowing the market to freely price the projects.
Through this approach, startups can gain significant attention and quickly accumulate funds and reputation based on technology, team background, or long-term concepts. However, to fully leverage this financial characteristic, several prerequisites must be met—a large number of end users, long-term user mindset education and accumulation, and mature trading tools.
Industry-leading user and capital pools: Only with a large number of end users can the exponential dissemination effect of the "attention economy" be fully realized. For instance, chains like Ape have attracted a wave of users by launching pump-type platforms, but these chains ultimately became Ponzi structures with insufficient on-chain users and funds, failing to drive product development and becoming a challenge for long-term product growth. According to DefiLlama data, BNB Chain's TVL is $5.6 billion, ranking fifth across the network, higher than Base and following Bitcoin. Additionally, according to official data, BSC's DAU reaches 1.12 million, providing a strong foundation for project growth with this industry-leading user and capital count.
Comprehensive user education and accumulation: Why did pump start to explode a month after launching on Solana? The reason lies in the fact that SOL had completed sufficient user mindset education before March. Although there were frequent RUGs on-chain before pump's inception, years of accumulation in the same field cultivated user groups, habits, and patterns, ultimately "igniting" the ecosystem. BNB Chain has been established for four years and also has a large number of users who are familiar with trading and curious about new matters. By comparing with similar platforms like four.meme and PancakeSwap SpringBoard, although they started relatively late, we have already seen considerable results, proving BNB Chain's achievements and unlimited potential in user cultivation.
Mature infrastructure: Finally, the ecosystem also needs sufficient and convenient trading infrastructure to fully realize the value of a massive user base. In the third quarter of this year, Ethereum and SunPump took turns following pump.fun, but their popularity only lasted 1-2 months. The core reasons for the inability to maintain popularity include high Gas fees and incomplete information and trading tools. In short, the high transaction threshold on such chains hinders user and capital entry. On BNB Chain, on the one hand, transaction fees are low, and TPS is extremely high, allowing users of different capital levels to participate in project development. On the other hand, after years of development, DeFi products on BNB Chain have become increasingly refined, including PancakeSwap, which ranks first in trading volume across the network, the third-largest stablecoin issuance volume, and further derivative tools like Lista DAO. Whether in terms of trading and address information needs, the richness and usability of tools, or advanced derivative tools, the needs of players at different levels can be met, enhancing market circulation speed and pricing speed, and realizing the value of a massive user base.
Multiple Technical Architectures Empower Project Development
In addition to helping projects acquire resources and users, the three pillars of BNB Chain—BNB Chain itself, the high-performance chain opBNB, and the storage protocol Greenfield—are also powerful drivers for AI development.
The core elements of AI underlying development include models, data, computing power, and more. As one of the mainstream decentralized storage protocols, BNB Greenfield can serve as a stable and cost-effective storage and hosting solution. Projects like StarAI have successfully hosted their networks on Greenfield. Furthermore, the integration with smart contracts ensures transaction transparency and rights distribution, and it can also serve as a foundational development base for further iterative applications like DataDAO.
As for opBNB, according to official data, its current TPS reaches up to 4600, with a DAU of 4.7 million. This extremely high performance can support the real-time and concurrent performance demands of complex AI applications.
The AI product matrix on BNB Chain is becoming more diverse, with numerous practical applications already in the ecosystem that can support the combined use, joint planning, and mutual growth of products. At the foundational level, Web3 tagging projects like DIN and Alaya AI are providing massive data for AI models. In the middle layer, ChainGPT offers integrated solutions for blockchain and AI. In application development, MyShell integrates hundreds of AI interfaces, supporting AI development across different depths and fields; Eternal AI is about to launch the framework tool Agent Studio, allowing developers to create AI Agents in a component-based manner; in January, projects like Tearline and DeAgentAI will also be deployed. Finally, BNB Chain has significantly expanded its toC application landscape, with NFP using AI-driven UGC design; Palio AI created by Xterio endows NPCs with emotions, changing the interaction form in games; MEET48 has opened a new track in Web3 idol entertainment.
BNB Chain is actively engaging in AI development, capable of planning and guiding the birth and implementation of new products from a higher dimension. There is an increasing urgency for more developers to participate in the AI construction of BNB Chain. Whether possessing outstanding innovation capabilities or execution abilities, the pioneers of the AI era are expected to shine in this ecosystem.
AI First Unlocks Infinite Possibilities
AI is no longer just an additional tool to assist certain segments; it is a disruptive technology. AI can revolutionize the interaction forms and depths between game NPCs and players, lower the barriers to NFT creation, and elevate the breadth and depth of trading information to unprecedented levels.
OpenAI plans to launch a new generation of AI agents in 2025, and Alphabet will create entirely new AI interaction forms in 2025. We are still in the early stages of the AI journey. BNB Chain hopes to collaborate with a wide range of AI developers and users, based on the AI First concept, to examine strategies and the future with a "revolutionary" attitude, build a new grand vision, and create infinite possibilities.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
