Goodbye Agent, Hello OpenClaw
"It is now the largest, most popular, and most successful open-source project in human history. This is absolutely the next ChatGPT."
This is not the rant of a geek, but the evaluation of OpenClaw by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in an interview this past Tuesday.
This open-source AI Agent, released by a former Apple developer, saw its GitHub stars surge to 320,000 within three months, surpassing Linux and React. Because its logo resembles a lobster claw, the Chinese community directly calls it "Lobster".
But the craze around Lobster is essentially not another AI tool hype; it is the prelude to the Agentic Economy—a critical turning point where AI moves from "talking" to "doing".
From Chat Assistants to Digital Employees, This Time It's Different
Over the past two years, the term "AI Agent" has been repeatedly mentioned but always remained in PowerPoint presentations. It wasn't until the emergence of OpenClaw that this stalemate was truly broken.
Its core difference lies in "execution" rather than "dialogue".
Traditional products like ChatGPT and Claude are essentially tools for answering questions—you ask, it answers, and the next step is still up to you. The logic of the new generation of Agents represented by OpenClaw is completely different: OpenClaw is authorized to take over the operating system, can autonomously call browsers, code executors, APIs, iMessage, etc., and autonomously plans, executes, and corrects based on goals until the task is completed.
Of course, this fully managed approach comes with inherent risks, but that's a topic for later.
Many compare this moment to the ChatGPT moment of 2022, but the author believes a more accurate analogy might be that distant afternoon many years ago when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone.
Innovation has not stopped. OpenClaw's official skill market, ClawHub, currently offers over 27,000 Skills for various AI Agents to call for free—this digital employee can do more and more things.
Looking further ahead, the popularity of OpenClaw is not just another simple AI tool frenzy but the prelude to the Agentic Economy, and Web3 is naturally its best soil.
Why is Web3 the Most Natural Economic Carrier for AI Agents?
On the surface, this "Lobster" is just a somewhat intelligent executor: automatically checking emails, booking tickets, managing files, and even cross-platform posting. But digging deeper, it is precisely the true引爆点 (ignition point) of the Agentic Economy—and Web3 is the most matching "ocean" for this lobster to crawl ashore.
The integration of blockchain and "Lobster" has natural advantages for effect amplification:
• The x402 protocol allows Agents to use a single wallet to autonomously pay fees, switch AI model providers, without manual review;
• The ERC-8004 protocol endows Agents with a portable reputation system and legal identity;
• Clawpay, ClawCredit, ClawRouter enable private payments, native credit, and autonomous routing;
• Stablecoins (USDT/USDC) become the Agent's "24/7 bank", perfectly matching the settlement needs driven by code.
In summary, the automatic execution of smart contracts, permissionless on-chain interactions, and instant global settlement of stablecoins—these features can greatly compensate for the bottlenecks of traditional AI Agents in payment closure, identity reputation, and contract execution.
More innovative scenarios are on the way:
• Circle's open-source Circle Skills already allow AI Agents to directly generate USDC payments, cross-chain transfers, and smart contract logic;
• SlowMist's MistTrack Skills provide Agents with on-chain AML risk analysis capabilities, enabling automatic security checks before transfers;
• RootData has encapsulated thousands of crypto project databases, financing data, token economics, social activity, etc., into a Skill, increasing content creation efficiency by 10 times.
Therefore, we have reason to believe that the craze of OpenClaw is just the prelude. When integrated into Web3, the Agentic Economy will unleash astonishing potential.
Agentic Concept Projects in the Spotlight
KITE
KiteAI is an Agent-specific PoAI L1 blockchain, deeply synergistic with the OpenClaw ecosystem: it supports OpenClaw developer activities and allows Agents to autonomously pay for computing resources/API calls.
Currently, KiteAI has joined the Agentic AI Foundation (in collaboration with OpenAI, Google, etc.) and is an important infrastructure for the Agentic Economy.
https://x.com/GoKiteAI/status/2024738751155716600
PIEVERSE
The on-chain payment protocol Pieverse recently launched Purr-Fect Claw, transforming OpenClaw into a fully on-chain tool. Users can deploy Agents directly within Web2 applications like Line, Kakao, WhatsApp, etc., to achieve gasless on-chain transactions and operations.
https://x.com/pieverse_io/status/2033791178156757094
GPS
GoPlus Security launched SafuSkill—a security-first Skills market based on BNB Chain, integrating a skill market, automatic security scanning engine, and developer tools to help users filter safe AI Agent Skills.
https://x.com/GoPlusSecurity/status/2032038367266009141?s=20
Lobster
This is not an AI Agent, but a Chinese Meme coin for OpenClaw. Like many同名 (same-name) Meme coins that蹭热点 (ride the hype) of hot events, "Lobster" has also been speculated on due to OpenClaw's breakout popularity.
https://x.com/WEEX_Official/status/2031680807396601872
CLAWD
"clawd.atg.eth" is a self-hosted personal AI assistant deployed by Ethereum developer Austin Griffith based on the open-source clawd.bot. The Agent can independently write, test, and deploy dApps to the Ethereum/Base mainnet and has already produced 14+ production-level applications (such as the ClawFomo game, PFP prediction market, Incinerator burning mechanism).
KELLYCLAUDE
KellyClaude is a personal AI executive assistant created by Austen Allred, running on the Claude model. It can proactively manage schedules, emails, travel, and other tasks and actively shares experiences in Agent communities like Moltbook.
CLUDE
Clude.io focuses on an independent memory layer,剥离 (stripping) memory from the model to achieve a persistent, private, and cross-model portable "brain-like" system, perfectly addressing the pain points of Agent memory and privacy sovereignty.
Final Thoughts
In 2023, the arrival of ChatGPT popularized the AI data sector represented by Fetch.ai (FET), SingularityNET (AGIX), and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), as well as the early AI+DePIN thematic sector represented by Render (RNDR), Akash (AKT), and io.net (IO);
At the end of 2024, TURBO, GOAT, and Fartcoin triggered an AI Meme狂欢 (carnival), shifting AI from utility to culture and speculation;
In 2025, market focus turned to AI agents as economic entities. Bittensor (TAO), The Graph (GRT), etc., shifted to support AI agent data queries and autonomous transactions, while projects like SkyAI emphasized multi-agent collaboration;
Now, OpenClaw is starting to further push Agents to truly execute 7×24 trading, collaboration, and entrepreneurship, feeding back massive on-chain (on-chain) traffic and new DeFi narratives. This marks our leap into the Agentic era.
The "Lobster" has entered the water, and the vast "ocean" of Web3 awaits it.
Is everyone ready?
