x402 has a brilliant mechanic — it spreads like a good virus every agent can now discover each other and quickly pay every other agent via x402 - Agent A discovers Agent B (via MCP bazaar/directory) - Agent A sends normal HTTP → Agent B replies HTTP 402 Payment Required + price quote for the task - Agent A auto-pays via facilitator (Coinbase/Virtuals), signs, and settles in <1s - Agent B returns the result + its own MCP payment rail - Agent A automatically installs B’s rail → A can forward B’s payment capability When Agent A hires Agent Z, it passes on B's rail + help seeds Z wallet. Agent Z is now able to discover, hire, and pay Agent B (and the loop continues). Result: One agent learns a new MCP skill/tool/rail → it instantly propagates to every connected agent, creating Self-propagating adoption. (h/t @MurrLincoln for the good virus analogy)

Have a feeling Onchain AI might accelerate 10x+ by the end this year We're seeing rapid growth of top teams on Base already > @AskVenice already hit 500B tok/day, up 2x from Sep > @AskSurplus set to hit 240B tok/day up 2.5x from Sep > @dphnAI hit ~14B tok/day a few days after public API Bittensor also announced Null Consensus upgrade, providing an option for subnet to expand the # of miners to 2,500. The potential downside is only 1 validator decides who get the rewards and who don't. Under the right conditions, this could mean faster iterative loops, more efficient product improvements (would need well-designed scoring system + healthy miners competition ofc) Can't wait to see the next leg up for both AI on Base and on Bittensor! [I'm surprised not many people on CT realizes this yet but Onchain AI val remains heavily compressed while metrics are rapidly growing every single week. We cover this a lot on Substack so if you're interested, feel free to check that out]

x402 = one of the most cost effective complementary GTM strat in 2026 What I like about x402 is that it is FREE distribution for projects & startups. Normally, startups leverage MCP to connect with developers in their fav IDEs and APIs to power users (startups & enterprises alike). x402 increase your distribution surface area by letting your agents discover 100+ tools & services that integrated x402. Users get the ability to try out any tools without having to grab an API and buy credits. Startups get better distribution, especially in the age where x402 catalogues (like AgentCash) or L1s (like Base, Solana, Ripple, Polygon, and more) are actively attracting projects with useful tools to integrate x402 and settle on their own chains i.e. If your tools are unique and useful, you practically get free marketing (This is one of the things I shared at our gm AI v2 event)

How's our gm AI v2 event? One thing we heard this year was that "You could walk into almost any groups and find yourself in an interesting agentic convos" With 1.5K+ signups for gm AI v2, we put a lot of thought into who we brought into the room, hoping everyone could find their people and convos worth joining Onchain AI seemed to be one of the most talked topics in the room The Agentic Economy drew the most attention, complemented by our pocketbook "The Agents are Buying" 55% of guests were founders, builders & developers. Another 25% coming from investors, VCs, and market makers Thanks to everyone who made it to our gm AI v2, our guests & cohosting partners @BlockRunAI, @codecopenflow, @dphnAI, @GoKiteAI, @openservai, @reppo for making this possible

Inference teams worth keeping an eye on this cycle actual computer (SN95) antseed blockrun chutes (SN64) darkbloom dolphin ai engy (SN53) gm (SN28) morpheus orbio surplus intelligence usepod venice ai warden/holo Anyone else?

Super excited for the massive growth of Onchain Inference > 5x growth in tokens/day in the last 3 months > @AskSurplus 10B in August to 200B/day in Oct > @engyai climbing back to its ATH level (30B+/day) > @AntSeed seeing 2x in growth in the past few days > @dphnAI finally launched Public API, super excited to see their agent harness "Flipper" coming out next Won't be surprised if we get another 5x this quarter given how fast the demand for inference is growing What'll come out next is the narrative for Financialization of compute & inference as the next frontier assets Long/Short compute, inference, and AI commodities on platforms like @Architect_Fi Buy/Sell/Earn yields on tokenized platform credits like DIEM, CREDIT, Bittensor Gamma tokens, etc So many developments and we haven't even touched on the data narrative yet

This year Token2049 made me realize something important It made me realize that this is THE BEST time to double down on Crypto > TradFi capital is here and more is coming (thanks to RWA & DeFi) > Retail capital is also coming (thanks to social trading) > AI users are coming (thanks to Onchain AI/ DeAI) > Quality projects are finding initial product market fit > Yet "many" analysts are bearish and are leaving There has never been a time where conviction could pay off as much as right now.... Like it or not, TradFi2049 is here and it's up to you to stay alive long enough enough to spot the opportunities

Third Day Token2049 > Third day/last day, literally the most exciting day of Token2049 because we had all the AI builders, VCs, devs in the room with us at gm AI v2 > Conversations shift to AI, privacy, robotics, DePIN, decentralization, tokenomics, all the geeky stuff that I couldn't find anywhere else at Token2049 > Surprisingly, I've met even more teams who have been around for a long time and are pivoting into new interesting directions > Some pivot to focus on Chinese AI market, moving their office to Shenzhen. Some pivot to AI x Gaming x Consumer Content while others move to social trading and privacy AI > Was quite surprised to see CT freaking out over Quantum. No one (I mean no one) at Token2049 talks about Quantum at all. > People who are bearish are bearish because of macro + some believe it's the end of the 4-year cycle. People who are bullish believe in the institutionalization & the acceptance of crypto as the global financial backbone, merging with TradFi > Builders on the other hand are much more concerned about the business side of things. "How do we get users to spend more?" "How do we really use tokens in a way that align interest & drive growth?" "How do we accelerate GTM with x402?". This feels like a breathe of fresh air. Less degeneracy, more fundamental product building All in all, pretty happy with how the day turned out. Got a few good research ideas in fairly new sectors that I haven't seen anyone talk about yet on CT. If you were to ask me "what's the SINGLE best thing I got out of Token2049?" It's the confirmation that Onchain/Decentralized AI is (and will continue to be) the most asymmetrical and one of the fastest growing sectors in crypto in the next 2 years Excited to share some of my deeper findings (interesting narratives & projects) in my upcoming Token2049 Article which I'll drop tomorrow How's your Token2049 experience?

Second Day Token2049 > Second day is practically a confirmation of the first day - less builders, more institutions > Exchanges, custody solutions, payments, stablecoins infra, neobanks dominate the main conference booths at Token2049 > Investors are bearish crypto, many of the analysts i know during my Spartan days are either quitting crypto or have already quit > Their reasoning is that the exciting opps are largely gone - DeFi has matured and winners have already emerged, NFTs/Memes are gone (even though Stonks & the recent RHC wave were pretty nice) > Most things are priced in which leaves ONLY a small number of narratives and teams primed for future upside (i.e. AI, privacy, RWA, payments) > The only analysts left are either net neutral or net short, hoarding up cash and has only 1 or 2 positions that he/she believe in > Some are still quite bullish though, got a friend who told me that there's a clear split in the high-networth market rn. Whales from the East are bearish while whales from the West are bullish (thanks to the recent push this year) I used to enjoy coming to major conference like Token2049 to take in the excitement and the energy of builders working on cool stuff. My first Token2049 was in 2023 and it was the best conference experience for me. Almost every side event I attended was filled with builders talking about DeFi primitives, L1/L2s architecture, rollups, tokenomics - literally all the geeky stuff that if I were to talk to people about today at side events, 80% of the people wouldn't care about because they're an employee working at an institution. Welp, sorry for the rant. I'm excited for the Third Day of Token2049 though because gm AI v2 (the event we're hosting) will be the place where I try to bring some of that 2023 energy back. Lots of AI builders, lots of geeky conversations, lots of fun. See you guys around!

First Day Token2049 ​ > 90% of the conversations are RWA, Tokenized Stocks, Structured Products (i.e. the institutionalization of crypto) ​ > 10% in AI, the financialization of compute and every single asset, bringing them onchain ​ > Surprisingly (or not) VCs, liquid funds, traders are talking about Grass and how bullish they are ​ > Venice, Near, Pumpfun, Orbio get mentioned quite a bit as well ​ > Most aren't aware of the Onchain/DeAI wave that's happening + most don't understand the value prop of onchain/decentralized inference, x402, and the budding ecosystem of tokenized inference credit markets ​ > Seeing many teams working as frontends for Hyperliquid, Ondo, Polymarket, and other venues ​ > These are trading platform, AI agent trading strategy platform, and DeFi protocols building structured products on top of infra that enables users to do more with their capital (e.g. AI strats that long 10 crypto assets & short 10 tokenized stocks, yield-bearing token that earns yields from a combination of tokenized assets and prediction market strategies) ​ > More people are coming onchain because onboarding is getting better + tokenized assets offer far more value vs traditional brokers (i.e. 24/7 trading, collateralized your asset, earn more yields through lending, basis trading strats, etc) ​ Overall, the crowd has gone down by 50%+, less builders around, more traders, investors, KOLs, and institutions ​ The vibe feels more institutionalized than the last. A lot less excitement from the retail crowd compared to the last. ​ Honestly don't know how to feel about this lol

Token2049 Top SG Foodies Spots - Moss Matcha (One of the best Matcha Gelato) - Bep Mai (Top-tier Bahn Mi) - Great Nanyang Heritage Cafe (Great prawn noodles) - Ketojjak Ice Creams (Low carb keto ice cream, black sesame so good) - Story One Korean Cusine (9 amazing side dishes esp the yuzu bael/this is my personal fav) - Habibi-san (Chewy Brussel Sprout) - Mad Roaster at NTU Campus (Really good coffee) If you had to choose a few, go for Story One for lunch + Habibi-san for dinner + Ketojjak for dessert Llmk your fav spots

Onchain Inference hit new ATH last week > @dphnAI's POD hit new ATH off the back of Upbit listing and ahead of public API + agent harness launch > @AskSurplus hit new ATH (~175B) in token usage per day > Other players like @orbiodotso shipping a lot of features in the past weeks (CREDIT, Agent launchpad, PT/YT on inference yield with @pendle_fi) In today's After Hour, we dive into the latest on Onchain Inference, asymmetric dip-buying opportunities, and more