AI Agent Concept Projects Review: From Payman to Talus Network

In recent months, the AI Agent sector has seen rapid development, with projects like ai16z generating substantial wealth returns in the market. Several well-known institutions have expressed optimism about the integration of AI and cryptocurrency in their 2025 trend predictions. Institutions like DWF Ventures, a16z, and Messari have all identified AI+Crypto as a key direction for future development.

Unlike projects under traditional financing models, the rise of the AI Agent sector initially unfolded on-chain in the form of memes, a characteristic that has significantly increased retail participation compared to VCs. This fair launch method offers greater fairness and transparency compared to previous projects' private placements, attracting a large number of investors' attention. However, despite the apparent equality and openness of the market without VC involvement, can we assert that the absence of VC participation is necessarily a good thing?

In reality, although VC investments have faced token price pressures due to factors such as token unlocks in recent years, leading to a decline in VC attention, this is a result of the profit-seeking nature of capital and exit mechanisms. However, the role of VCs should not be overlooked, especially during the due diligence phase in the early stages of a project. In-depth due diligence by VCs can help investors filter out potentially high-risk projects, avoiding excessive blind investments. Additionally, well-funded project teams can typically focus more on technological innovation during the initial development phase and often possess more professional and efficient capabilities in project promotion and later operations, advantages that most on-chain meme projects cannot match.

Therefore, overall, the investment opportunities in the AI Agent sector are not limited to on-chain meme projects; the backing of VC funds also has its unique advantages. By reviewing AI Agent concept projects in the primary market over the past six months, Odaily Planet Daily hopes to provide readers with diversified investment options. Whether it is a VC project or an on-chain meme project, as long as the trends are correctly grasped, there are opportunities for profit.

Coinbase Ventures and Visa co-invest in Payman

Payman is an AI-to-user payment platform designed to provide payment capabilities for AI, enabling it to pay users for completing tasks (such as marketing, etc.). The platform supports payments in fiat currency and USDC stablecoin, providing a convenient flow of funds for interactions between AI and users.

Core Features:

Easy Integration: Payman's API allows users to fund AI in seconds and start executing tasks.

Powerful Dashboard: The platform includes built-in spending limit features to help manage AI budgets while monitoring AI spending through precise task tracking.

Flexible Task Posting: AI can easily assign tasks to users who need to complete them or post tasks to the platform's marketplace.

Platform Highlights:

Human Marketplace: Payman provides a dedicated marketplace for AI to find users to complete tasks it cannot accomplish independently or needs assistance in certain areas.

Multiple Payment Methods: Whether the AI chooses to use fiat currency, cryptocurrency, or pay users through bank accounts, Payman can provide support to ensure a convenient and secure payment process.

Payman enables AI to pay users for completing tasks, with the following steps:

Add funds to the AI wallet: First, log into the platform, create an AI agent, and fund its wallet.

Integrate Payman API into AI: By integrating Payman's API, funds are provided to AI, allowing it to start using the platform.

AI posts tasks: The AI agent posts tasks to the marketplace, inviting users to participate and complete tasks.

Webhooks notify task completion: Payman's provided Webhooks notify the AI agent upon task completion, helping it optimize task handling and execution.

Payman has a wide range of application scenarios. For example, in product management, AI agents can optimize product development by paying users for feedback; in interview processes, AI can pay candidates to complete tasks and analyze results to improve recruitment efficiency; in marketing and growth, AI can not only formulate marketing strategies but also pay influencers to execute tasks, thereby expanding brand influence; in engineering, AI can pay experts to review code, ensuring its accuracy and efficiency. Through these applications, Payman injects new momentum into various industries, promoting deep collaboration between AI and users.

Payman announced the completion of a $3 million pre-seed round of financing on August 8 last year, with investors including Visa, Coinbase Ventures, and The Spartan Group. The project successfully entered Binance Labs' MVB accelerator program as early as July last year. Payman's co-founder Tyllen Bicakcic previously held key developer relations positions at Uniswap Foundation and Flow public chain.

Coinbase Ventures and a16z co-invest in Skyfire

Skyfire is an innovative payment solution designed for the AI economy, dedicated to providing AI agents with a global, instant, and open payment system that supports fully autonomous transactions among AI agents, language models (LLMs), data platforms, service providers, and other goods and services. All