Decentralized AI Agents: Web3's Bridge to Value-Centric Mining
In 2009, Bitcoin ignited the torch of decentralization revolution with roaring mining rigs. Miners burned energy equivalent to the consumption of small nations just to crack intricate cryptographic puzzles—this mechanism known as "Proof of Work" (PoW) acted as digital alchemy, converting electricity into virtual gold. Bitcoin's core value extended beyond technological innovation to pioneering an open economic model where both producers and consumers could participate freely. When miners could earn rewards by contributing computing power without authorization, and users executed cross-border transfers bypassing bank approvals, blockchain revealed its potential to reshape human economic relations.
Under the Web3 ideology, the ideal Web3 product, much like Bitcoin, should enable permissionless access for both producers and consumers. People continuously attempted to inject new value into mining: Ethereum introduced smart contract virtual machines for the first time, allowing producers (miners) to join permissionlessly and provide universal computing services (hosting and executing contracts), while consumers could access these services freely (invoking contracts). Filecoin permitted anyone to contribute their hard drives and GPUs to store data for others and earn rewards. Helium pioneered Proof of Coverage to offer permissionless Wi-Fi services. Countless similar examples existed, evoking stirring optimism as if illuminating the path to a liberated economic society reshaped by technology. Yet the reality remained that genuine user adoption for most Web3 products remained scarce.
Some argued that decentralization should focus on assets, not products. Blockchain, as a decentralized ledger, could leverage its strengths to challenge centralized banks, but decentralized products could not deliver user experiences or usage costs even remotely comparable to their centralized counterparts. Countless Web3 projects that plummeted from multi-billion valuations to zero starkly validated this harsh economic law. However, the narrative took an unexpected turn with the rise of AI.
Meanwhile, after years of debate, no one now denies humanity has crossed the threshold into the AI era. Before we rush to envision a decentralized large model utopia, it must be acknowledged that in the foreseeable future—much like other Web3 products—decentralized large models could never offer services rivaling GPT. Though the timeline for AI thrusting humanity into a sci-fi era remains unclear, products are already transforming unrecognizably. When ChatGPT replaced Office suite menus with a single dialogue box, a paradigm shift in human interaction was declared: no more button jungles, just a natural language command. Once, product managers spent painstaking effort balancing power and simplicity; now, a single chat interface unlocks it all.
In our previous article, we explored AI agents’ potential. As a product for the first time, a decentralized AI agent network bridges the cost-experience gap. While only a select few possess the authority to add functionality to centralized platforms like Google, every developer worldwide can register agents on this open, decentralized network. Whether it's a tax analysis agent written by a Mumbai student or a 3D modeling agent trained by a Berlin team, all can pass orchestrator agent verification to be equally accessed and rewarded. For the first time, we're upgrading "mining"—a form of repetitive computation—into a creative value output driven by global demand.