GuShiio.com DeFAI ≠ abstraction layer and should focus on unlocking new possibilities rather than copying existing features.
Written by: Defi0xJeff, head of steak studio
Compiled by: Ashley, BlockBeats
Editor’s note: The author summarized his gains and thoughts after browsing more than 50 Cookie DeFAI hackathon projects, and pointed out the potential and market gaps of DeFAI Agents, especially the rise of vertical Agents and the shortcomings of research on Agents. The authors believe that cookies, as a data platform, are driving the development of innovative projects and suggest that teams should focus on new use cases rather than copying existing features. DeFAI is expected to become an important vertical market in the encryption field and can compete with Web2 Agents in the future.
The following is the original content (the original content has been compiled for ease of reading and understanding):
After browsing more than 50 Cookie DeFAI hackathon projects, what I learned (it’s more like feedback/my current view of the Agent market/how the projects stand out).
Status: DeFAI = abstraction layer for many developers
Many teams have added NLP interfaces to their products (probably because they think DeFAI is equivalent to @HeyAnonai,@griffaindotcom,@orbitcryptoai,@askthehive_ai). In most cases, this is not appropriate, especially if you can only do simple things, such as using the Cookie API to find the influence of the top 5 AI Agent tokens, find top currencies with momentum, etc. This is just a mini feature that many top abstraction layers are already in place.
I think it would be better to use the Cookie dashboard to view these analyses directly, rather than adding a new interface that is not comprehensive enough.
DeFAI abstraction layer
Instead of copying existing capabilities, teams should focus on leveraging the Cookie API to unlock new possibilities to drive new use cases and verticals, rather than drawing inspiration from existing domains.
Vertical Agent was born
I was surprised by the many interesting ideas that have emerged from this hackathon-several projects have unique concepts. Although many projects are still in the early demonstration/conception stages, they paint an exciting picture of future use cases.
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An Agent that helps preserve your legacy checks that you are safe and if you pass away, it will take action to fulfill your wishes.
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ETF/index funds that use cookies to analyze investment decisions and comprehensive research reports.& bull; Agent security analysis and Agent security scoring.
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A product/developer learning center similar to ChatGPT helps developers understand all about Solana.
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DYOR layer, tracking analyst/KOL calls, DYOR and copy transactions.
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A framework that allows agents to sign contracts that enables complex interactions between agents and agents (unsecured loans, employment agreements, alliances/coordination).
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Personalized +DeFAI Agent AI companions will adjust their behavior/visual effects based on market dynamics.
More and more teams are launching Agents in niche areas, rather than just “trading Agents” or AI-driven dashboard/research Agents. Introducing vertical agents makes it easier to distinguish them from generic agents.
Trading Agents already have head players. Although the field is still in its infancy, it is still difficult to stand out, especially in the early stages. It would be better to focus on vertical agents.
Many people may think that @HeyTracyAI is @virtuals_io’s flagship Agent on Solana, which is useless and cannot help you make money. In fact, an Agent built like a real business will perform better in the long run to solve real problems. The sports market is a huge Total Address Market (TAM). Look beyond Web3. (I’m not pushing Tracy, I’m just making a point about vertical agents.)
Lack of suitable research agents
Although vertical agents are opening up unique market segments, another major gap in the field is suitable research agents.
The keyword here is “suitable”. At present, there is no research on how Agents can replace human information synthesis and reasoning. This applies not only to Cookie DeFAI hackathon projects, but also to the general situation of Web3 AI Agents.
Most AI Agents today just aggregate data, but do not have the same comprehensive insights as humans. Analyzing data through traditional dashboards, such as @cookiedotfun,@GoatIndexAI,@Decentralisedco, and using Grok, is still better than having AI Agents “feed” Web3 AI Agents “insights.”
Although there are many layers of abstraction and teams focused on enhancing research capabilities, there are still significant gaps here. Whoever can break through this point first will have an important advantage.
Most hackathons projects are still in the early development stages, and many have not yet been deployed. Since this is a pure DeFAI hackathon (as you can see, DeFAI is the best-performing category among AI Agents), many high-quality projects and tokens will emerge from this event.
As discussed in Part 2, many projects will provide new use cases beyond what we currently understand about DeFAI applications.
As AI agents continue to develop as a field, agents can fill more gaps. For example, B2A (Business to Agent) surpasses B2B and B2C.
The next wave of DeFAI projects will not only enhance existing use cases, they will create completely new use cases.
Cookies serve as Agent data support and distribution channels
Instead of relying on launch platforms to highlight unique Agent tokens, cookies empower agents and teams with new and interesting use cases by providing a support for tracking AI Agent data on and off the chain.
At the same time, Cookie’s dashboard has been used by more than 240,000 MAUs, and these users are deeply involved in this field. Finding gems on Cookie dashboards and Cookie hacksons is like discovering a new gem on Virtuals.
Cookies have proven themselves to be a powerful Agent distribution channel. The more agents take advantage of this, the faster the ecosystem matures.
conclusion
This hackathon feels similar to the Solana AI hackathon, but it can be said to be better because it is pure DeFAI.
DeFAI is not just another AI trend-it has the potential to become the most promising Agent vertical in the crypto space. This hackathon proves this.
I prefer DeFAI as an Agent use case native to encryption that can develop as a separate vertical and compete with Web2 Agents.
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