I just noticed a pretty interesting phenomenon. Recently, the number of new AI agents on Ethereum has suddenly skyrocketed, with over 11,000 such agents running on the network by mid-February, which is really quite astonishing. Ethereum has become the favorite activity hub for AI agents, but what’s the real reason behind this?

Actually, it’s mainly because Ethereum launched a new standard system at the end of January called ERC-8004, specifically designed to regulate the identity recognition, evaluation, and tracking of AI agents. The clever part of this standard is that agents can be discovered, their work history can be evaluated across organizations, and there’s no need to rely on a platform to act as a judge. In other words, Ethereum is now the most orderly and predictable place, suitable for automated agents to do business. Moreover, when these agents perform tasks, they need to pay Ethereum transaction fees and hold some ETH to cover DeFi service costs and other expenses.

The logic seems sound, so should Ethereum now be a buy? I don’t think we can jump to that conclusion so quickly. The key question is whether these 11,000 new agents are actually generating real on-chain transaction activity and value flow. Currently, the evidence is still insufficient.

Just look at weekly application revenue. In the week of February 15, Ethereum’s application ecosystem only generated $16 million in weekly income, far below the usual levels in 2024 and 2025—back then, it was typically around $30 million per week. The number of active wallet addresses also didn’t show a significant increase. In simple terms, registering a bunch of agents is one thing, but whether these agents are actually spending money on-chain and creating value is another matter.

Ethereum as an asset only truly benefits when the economic value generated by agent activity flows into the base asset through transaction fees. Right now, the activity volume doesn’t seem enough. So my view is that, based solely on the appearance of 11,000 new agents, it’s not enough to say Ethereum is a screaming buy. However, if you start to see sustained paid usage—note, real usage, not just registration—that’s a different story. That would indicate a larger on-chain service economy taking shape on Ethereum, which is a truly meaningful signal to watch. So, keep observing; this story is not over yet.