The Agentic Future (12.30.25): Khala Research Launches in January 2026
Launching Khala Research: in-depth reports on crypto × AI × robotics. First report on decentralised robotics. Free monthly insights as the world comes onchain in 2026.
This Crypto AI newsletter consists of four parts:
Snippet Partner (Khala Research)
Crypto AI & Robotics Market Overview
Emerging Developments
Additional reading/viewing (Teng, Suhail, “Thinking Game”)
If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me on X
Khala Research is my own research product that will be coming to market next week.
If you’ve found my crypto × AI × robotics analysis useful within this newsletter and on X, Khala Research is a more structured, in-depth extension of that work.
The first report will focus on decentralised robotics; the convergence of crypto, AI, and robotics; a theme I believe will evolve into a major narrative heading into 2026.
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AI Roundup
Decentralized AI (“DeAI”) mindshare continues to hold steady at 29% this week:
RWAs, DeFi and Stablecoins take more mindshare this week as Canton Network reveals partnership with the Nasdaq.
If it’s not clear by now, the world is coming onchain.
AI and Robotics will be a mega trend in 2026, but many other crypto segments will find product market fit particularly as regulatory frameworks are refined; namely the GENIUS Act (stablecoins) and CLARITY Act (broader digital assets).
Expect a big 2026, here are some predictions for those who missed it:
a) DeAI Market Cap
The overall DeAI market cap has remained flat this week at $25.3bn market cap:
ICP is down 2%, offset by an increase in Near by 4%. The latest developments with Near is that openmind_agi is running AI inference through NEAR AI Cloud to power fully autonomous home robotics
TAO climbs slightly following a sell off post halving earlier this month; today, Grayscale filed the initial S-1 for Grayscale Bittensor Trust (ticker: $GTAO) with the SECGov
Chainlink climbs steadily also as deeper integration of its pricing oracle is rolled out across more protocols, driving further adoption and linage between onchain and offchain asset data; the latest integration is with the perp DEX aggregator, vooi
b) Robotics Market Cap
The Robotics market cap also remains flat this week, with some winners and losers:
peaq was the out-performer this week, up 8% while many others are flat or dipped in price. The Robo farm that launched recently produces fresh greens, sells them and uses the proceeds to pay back liquidity providers:
c) Agentic Commerce (x402)
x402 transactions have sustained above 2 million daily, with Coinbase, PayAI and Dexter retaining the top 3 spots as facilitators.
There’s been more than $50m in payment volume in the past 30 days alone ($600m annualised):
Interestingly, data from Artemis shows that the average value per transactions has been reducing over time alongside fake transactions:
This might suggest that as time progresses it is organic “real” agentic commerce that is taking place as opposed to wash trading to get user attention.
As more granular data tagging becomes available we will be able to better view the types of transactions that are being prioritized.
If you want to get a grip on where this is heading, this article by LordofAFew (founder of DayDreams Agents) demonstrates the potential for agentic task markets:
This is very much the same expected value proposition decentralized robotics protocols could offer embodied AI, as you’ll see in the first Khala robotics report:
2. Crypto AI Agent Analysis
Nansen Smart Capital Flow Analysis
Nansen’s smart net capital flows show several protocols with more than $150k:
sUSDAI sees minor inflows to their AI (GPU) yield backed dollar as more staked USDai synthetic dollar is minted for exposure to revenue from GPUs
Virtuals recently successfully tested the robotics openserv connection with ACP
Chainlink rolls out support for VOOI Perp DEX aggregator platform
Fartcoin is catching a bid purely through memetics and sentiment coming into 2026; perhaps boomers are chatting about it at the Christmas dinner table?
3. AI Agents Developments: Innovations and Market Developments
3a) Here are some other interesting Crypto AI related developments this week:
December 30th: Link
The following news is included:
1) Microsoft released a study showing the 40 jobs most at risk by AI (see screenshot). Interpreters & Translators top the leaderboard.
2) x402 transactions surge with >2 million daily (all non-gamed txs). Agentic commerce is finishing 2025 strong - this will become a mega trend in 2026. There’s been $50m in payment volume in the past 30 days
3) mert launches an AI tool on Orb_Markets that analyze your past txn history for a wallet to spot patterns humans are bad at
4) virtuals_io successfully tested a connection between openmind_agi robots and Virtuals ACP (Agent Commerce Protocol); could we see swarms of embodied AI co-ordinating in 2026?
5) shawmakesmagic returns to X; they’ve finished the Eliza framework and migrated from ai16z to elizaOS. Also highlighted a snippet of an open source AI RuneScape they’re working on
6) I mentioned Prediction AI will ramp up in 2026; well 2025 is yet to conclude and there’s already arbitrage agents running rampant on Polymarket etc. specifically scalping nuanced markets like LoL/Dota live
7) bitstarterAI completed its second crowdfund using Bittensor’s native crowd loan system. Their latest 400 TAO raise (in exchange for 86,956 alpha of Subnet 24) is backing Quasar (SN24), focused on long-context memory
8) bluwhaleai Launches Agent Marketplace, Boosts Token Utility with Burns
9) Zai_org is set to IPO on the HK Stock exchange on January 8th; the first AI-native LLM company to list on the global market (raising $560m). Zai’s GLM-4.7 also tops open-source benchmarks
10) Infinit_Labs launched Prompt-to-DeFi access, enabling natural language prompts to execute DeFi strategies end-to-end using AI agents
11) vooi_io has officially adopted the Chainlink Cross-Chain Token (CCT) standard for its cross chain aggregation of Perp DEXs
12) useTria Season 1 Points is now live. Every spend, upgrade and referral earns XP that moves you through the deck for this pre-TGE Neobank that uses an AI solution called “Bestpath” that swaps tokens efficiently on the backend
4) Additional Reading / Viewing
i) I’d strongly recommend watching “The Thinking Game”:
It follows the journey into the heart of Google DeepMind, capturing a team striving to unravel the mysteries of intelligence and life itself.
ii) Vibe coding tips:
Great article from Suhail on using AI tools to vibe code:
iii) AI Agents are eating Software (Teng):
iv) Is homeschooling the answer to future proofing your childrens’ skillsets?
That’s a wrap for issue 157 of S4mmy’s Snippets. I hope you enjoyed it.
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If you are interested in more formal reporting on Crypto AI and Robotics then Khala is my research product.
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered investment or financial advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the assets and have partnerships with some of the projects mentioned in this newsletter.