In the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence, a week is a long time. For OpenClaw (formerly Clawdbot and then MoltBot), the last seven days have been a masterclass in viral growth, but trademark disputes and a stream of mishaps have marred its potential.What started as a niche tool for developers has turned into a cautionary tale of "The Great Molt" — a rebrand that saw millions of dollars vanish in minutes while simultaneously cementing OpenClaw as a potential game-changer for crypto degens.<h2 id="what-is-openclaw">What is OpenClaw?</h2>OpenClaw is a self-hosted <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/ai-agents" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI agent</a> assistant created by developer Peter Steinberger. Unlike a standard chatbot, OpenClaw is designed to live on your local hardware — often a Mac Mini — and execute real-world tasks.It can:<ul><li>Control your browser</li><li>Run terminal commands</li><li>Plan and execute tasks autonomously</li><li>Communicate with you via WhatsApp or Telegram.</li></ul>Its "local-first" architecture means your private data never leaves your server, a feature that has made it popular among privacy-conscious crypto natives.It launched publicly in November 2025, but didn’t gain widespread attention until December 2025 following the success of Anthropic’s Claude Code.OpenClaw has since gone viral, <a href="https://github.com/moltbot/moltbot" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">recording</a> over 100,000 stars on <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/github" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">GitHub</a> (similar to Instagram likes) and securing mentions in high-profile publications including <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronschmelzer/2026/01/27/viral-ai-sidekick-clawdbot-changes-name-to-moltbot-and-sheds-its-old-skin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Forbes</a> and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/clawdbot-moltbot-viral-ai-assistant/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">WIRED</a> — making it one of the most visible <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/open-source" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">open-source</a> agent tools right now.<h2 id="the-molt">The “Molt”</h2>OpenClaw’s rise to glory wasn’t without hiccups. The project was originally named Clawdbot, but it received a trademark request from AI development firm Anthropic due to its similarity to their "Claude" large language model.The team pivoted to the name MoltBot — a metaphor for a lobster shedding its shell to grow.But the transition became a disaster when the team attempted to swap their social media handles.In the few seconds between dropping the old @clawdbot handle and claiming the new one, professional "handle snipers" snagged it.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/1d2f30a6b2f04bd28dc56593bdde5e02.jpg">Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/steipete/status/2016068265391354181" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Peter Steinberger</a>The fallout was immediate and devastating. Scammers used the hijacked X account to launch a fake CLAWD token on Solana. It rocketed to a $16 million market cap within hours but plummeted to near-zero when Steinberger publicly clarified that he had nothing to do with it.On Jan. 29, Steinberger <a href="https://openclaw.ai/blog/introducing-openclaw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">announced</a> that the project would once again change its name, this time to OpenClaw, representing both its open-source nature and lobster heritage.There have been other issues as well. Experts quickly identified that many users were running OpenClaw with exposed <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/api" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">API</a> keys and open server ports, effectively leaving the "master keys" to their digital lives reachable by any hacker with an IP scanner.Plus, there are mounting reports that Anthropic is actively banning users powering their OpenClaw with their Claude credentials, seemingly for violating a clause in its <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Terms of Service</a> that says its services cannot be used to develop or train any AI or machine learning algorithms or models.<h2 id="crypto-use-cases-for-openclaw">Crypto Use Cases for OpenClaw</h2>Despite the user security issues and rough start, the crypto community has embraced OpenClaw for what many say is an unparalleled ability to act as an autonomous <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/on-chain" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">on-chain</a> agent.Here are some of the most ambitious use cases users have come up with so far.<h3 id="polymarket-yield-sniper">Polymarket Yield Sniper</h3>Prediction markets like <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/polymarket-lands-major-league-soccer-partnership-deal" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Polymarket</a> move at the speed of news. Users are now using OpenClaw to monitor global news feeds and social media sentiment in real time to automate their "Yes/No" positions.Using this execution loop, Polymarket traders can reduce the lag that usually costs them the best entry. The practical result is less “human delay” and more opportunities to extract gains from mispricings, an advantage normally reserved for teams running institutional-grade bots.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/c22afe9fbef8444aa685704ed79668e1.png">Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/0xMovez/status/2016285520825835834" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Movez</a><h3 id="autonomous-researcher-trader">Autonomous Researcher/Trader</h3>Traditional research can be a slog, involving hours of scrolling through white papers and reports, aggregating on-chain data, and writing up briefs. OpenClaw users are now creating "research agents" that aggregate data into an easy-to-read format for quick decision-making. The result gives traders quicker reads on whether a <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/token" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">token</a> is real, liquid, and/or worth deeper attention.Others have gone one step further, giving their OpenClaw live access to a funded crypto <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/wallet" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wallet</a> and directing it to trade automatically using its insights.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/eb93cac096e14efd9dfd05cf92f0d3c8.jpg">Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/Legendaryy/status/2015101399047274517" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Legendary</a>That said, it’s important to separate the hype from the reality here. Most positive results are unsubstantiated, but the proof of concept is there.Don’t have time to get to grips with OpenClaw? <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/cmc-ai/ask/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Give CMC AI a try</a>.<h3 id="passive-airdrop-farming-at-scale">Passive "Airdrop Farming" at Scale</h3><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/airdrop" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Airdrop</a> farming can be incredibly tedious and repetitive, especially when taken to extremes.Farmers are using OpenClaw to automate "proof of activity" across dozens of testnets, allowing them to automatically perform daily tasks like bridging small amounts of Ethereum (<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>), swapping on a <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/decentralized-exchange-dex" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">decentralized exchange (DEX)</a>, or interacting with Discord channels to maintain "active" status.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/8920dcba6b3b4bb3a6a1ac550d72dda8.png">Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/YieldPrime/status/2015578297854550382" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Yield Prime</a>Because OpenClaw runs locally, it can maintain persistent sessions across multiple browser profiles without triggering "bot detection" as easily as cloud-based scripts. Some people are already using this to bypass the typical Sybil defenses used by many airdrop campaigns.The result is greater consistency and less manual effort, turning a tedious grind into a systematic workflow — albeit at the expense of projects seeking genuine user engagement.<h3 id="on-chain-sentry">On-Chain Sentry</h3>Another unique OpenClaw crypto workflow is running it as a 24/7 market sentinel.Creative users are utilizing it to track <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/whale" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">whale</a> wallets and monitor big exchange inflows/outflows, liquidation spikes, and open interest changes, as well as sudden narrative shifts. It can then ping them on Telegram/Discord the moment something interesting happens.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/e0bbdf80ca62490099707c4faae5094a.jpg">Source: <a href="https://x.com/reMugi3/status/2016089315491598713" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Mugi</a>Instead of manually refreshing dashboards, the bot uses loops to automatically scan, detect, , giving you an edge over those still doing it the “old-fashioned way.”<h2 id="crypto-and-the-agentic-economy">Crypto and the Agentic Economy</h2>If the agentic economy takes off, what will agents use to transact?An AI agent can’t walk into a bank, pass <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/kyc" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Know Your Customer (KYC)</a> checks, or tap “approve” in your banking app, but it can hold a crypto wallet and settle payments autonomously using digital assets.This lack of friction makes crypto a natural rail for AI agents to buy data, compute, and services without human bottlenecks. Still, autonomy raises big questions around trust, safety, and <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/accountability" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">accountability</a>.As agents start “doing business” for us, will crypto become their default payment layer? So far, the case is compelling.Further reading: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/5-ways-ai-agents-can-make-life-easier-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">5 Ways AI Agents May Actually Make Your Life Easier in 2026</a>

What is OpenClaw? The AI Agent Assistant Lighting Up Crypto Twitter

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