Giulio Xiloyannis, Flame X Hall

Crypto punters shouldn't throw more money at AI agents to trade – just stick to what you'd invest if you were to trade alone because there will still be losers, says the crypto venture capitalist.

“Marketing is always a zero-sum game,” Julio Giloyannis, co-founder of Web3 venture capital studio LiquidX, told Hall of Flames.

“There is always someone who has to lose money to make money for someone,” says the entrepreneur, originally from Spain and now based in Malaysia. “Eventually, you have to come out to someone to realize your worth,” he explains, though it may not happen now.

The 35-year-old believes that AI agents are “the strongest idea” he has seen in the industry, but warns that the system cannot change the fundamentals of the market.

The former fashion entrepreneur-turned-crypto bro reiterated that it is “mathematically impossible” for AI agents to make the entire market “more profitable.”

Because of this, traders should avoid the temptation to “budget extra” for the latest shiny *toy* in crypto, Xiloyannis suggests. “Your risk allocation should be based on the asset class, not who is trading it,” he warns.

But AI agents give ordinary everyday combatants a “time” they never had before.

“By having an AI agent, the ideal version is another version of yourself, but with their eyes on the charts 24/7.”

AI agents trying their luck in the crypto market will “level the playing field against professional high-frequency traders who get a lot of value from retail traders,” Xiloyannis says.

Oh, and AI agents don't suffer from cognitive biases like humans.

“The human mind, emotions, are the greatest enemy of the businessman,” he declares.

How did Giulio Xiloyannis build his X sequel?

Xiloyannis has 496,000 followers on X, but he modestly admits that being a founder in the crypto space makes it easier to gather followers than in the traditional tech industry.

In the crypto world, he explains, “there is more of a founder center than a production center” because crypto users have a financial stake in the project, which is not always true for Web2.

“In Web 2, with a few exceptions from Elon Musk, etc., most of the focus is on the product,” he says.

“The average Apple user doesn't care much about Tim Cook, but shareholders do,” he added.

“In crypto, most of the balance, founder versus product, is skewed a lot more toward the founder because people are going to invest in Web2.

Xiloyannis saw his company LiquidX acquire the popular gaming NFT collection Pixelmon in 2022 and the number of followers jumped over 100,000.

“Pixelmon had a huge community; over 100,000 users. The downside was that the founder didn't live up to his promises. There was a lot of community unhappiness; the community was about to collapse,” he explains.

“We said we will save this when we find it. Their hopes had an immediate springboard effect that crossed over to us. LiquidX became very popular and I got over 100,000 followers,” he added.

What kind of content does Giulio Xiloyannis create?

“The content is very different from the average Web3 founder,” says Xiloyannis.

“I wrote it based on a long entrepreneurial journey where the average Web3 founder is in their 20s, very smart people, but not quite on the block yet,” he explains.

It also draws on content from “founders sharing their founding experiences.”

“It's rare but extremely important,” he said.

“Founders who are willing to talk about their daily struggles are great. Finally, being a founder is lonely; You're experiencing a lot of things that aren't new to other founders, so be able to read in-depth content.

Predictions for Giulio Xiloyannis?

Xiloyannis is “extremely bullish” on crypto gaming and AI, which will “explode” and take a large share of the global market.

“Right now we are sub 1% in the gaming market and negligible in the AI ​​market. I believe that within two years both categories will start seeing a 10-12% penetration curve,” he said.

By the end of 2026, we will be at 10% gaming penetration.

As for the answer every crypto trader wants from a VC, are AI coins worth it now?

Xiloyannis believes AI crypto tokens “which represent an underlying agent of investment are more interesting than pure AI memecoins.

AI memecoins “while they help create awareness, they don't have intrinsic longevity. Longevity depends on cultural activity,” he explains.

But if the AI ​​hype continues, it suggests that AI memecoins may still be on the rollercoaster for some time to come.

“Longevity doesn't seem to depend on the fundamentals of the coin.”

Ciaran Lyon

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.