EXIO Research | June 24, 2026
On June 20, 2026, WeChat unveiled an AI card to select users—the native AI assistant “Wei Xiao”—began rolling out in a limited beta. Users granted beta access will see a green eye-shaped robot icon in the top-left corner of the WeChat main interface; tapping it opens a conversation interface labeled “Beta,” supporting both text and voice interactions.1].
You might think this is just another chatbot. But if we step back and look at the bigger picture, its significance goes far beyond the surface—it could be the most crucial piece in the grand narrative of the internet transitioning from “everyone online” to “all assets on-chain.”
First, the four levels of "Micro": It's not just chatting—it's "say it, get it"
The WeChat team has a restrained definition of Xiao Wei: “Users can converse with Xiao Wei via text or voice, leveraging AI technology to better use WeChat, communicate with friends, and launch mini-programs to receive improved services.”2But the capability system revealed by feedback from gray test users reveals a clear ambition.
From a technical standpoint, WeChat uses WeLM (a proprietary Chinese large language model developed by the WeChat team) as the primary model, with DeepSeek invoked as a fallback for complex reasoning scenarios, while also testing third-party models such as Zhipu and Alibaba to maintain technical flexibility.3]. This pragmatic approach of combining models speaks volumes—WeChat has never been about flashy tricks, but about making AI truly run.
At the practical experience level, Xiao Wei demonstrates four progressive levels[4The first layer is native control based on “say what you mean” — you can say, “Send a message to Old Zhang to let him know the meeting has been moved to 3 p.m.,” and Xiao Wei will accurately recognize social relationships and complete the action. The second layer is ecosystem integration, automatically launching mini-programs to handle end-to-end life services such as booking appointments, shopping, or hailing a ride. The third layer is content understanding — send it a PDF, and it will generate a structured summary within seconds. The fourth layer is the most impressive — generating small tools with natural language: “Help me create a running check-in app,” and it produces a prototype in seconds.
This is no longer just a “smarter Siri.” It is the world’s most widely used super app, and for the first time, it has truly integrated AI agents into everyday communication, payments, social interactions, and work scenarios.
II. The AI Agent's "Normandy Moment": From Geek Toy to Utilities
Why is the gray-scale launch of "WeChat Mini Programs" considered a landmark event? Because before this, AI agents remained a concept confined to news reports for most Chinese people—ChatGPT required a VPN, Manus needed an invitation code, and most domestic AI agents were still stuck at the demo stage. But WeChat did something: it lowered the barrier to AI agents to zero.
1.4 billion monthly active users don’t need to download a new app, register a new account, or learn a new interface. They simply need to open WeChat as usual and speak to a “green eye,” experiencing the magic of “generating a mini-program with a single sentence.”5]. This “seamless integration” surge reminds us of how the 2008 App Store made it easy for everyone to download apps, or how WeChat Mini Programs in 2017 made the revolution of “accessible-at-your-fingertips” services possible.
From a broader perspective, the global AI Agent market is on the verge of explosive growth. According to Precedence Research, the global AI Agent market size was approximately $7.92 billion in 2025 and is projected to surge to $294.66 billion by 2035, with a compound annual growth rate of 43.57%[6In the role segmentation, the "Productivity and Personal Assistant" category of agents leads all categories with a CAGR of 29.50%. WeChat Mini Program has precisely been the first to break into the most challenging segment of this high-growth赛道—the C-end mass market.
Three: From “People Seeking Features” to “Features Seeking People”: A Silent Productivity Revolution
Let’s imagine Xiao Wei’s daily life after maturity.
When you wake up in the morning, you tell your phone, “Xiao Wei, check today’s important updates and order me a black coffee to the office.” It not only summarizes your overnight WeChat unread messages but also opens the Starbucks mini-program to place your order. At the office, you drop a 30-page research report PDF to it, and three minutes later, you receive a structured summary with key points highlighted. During lunch, you suddenly think, “Next month, I want to take my parents to Yunnan with a budget of 10,000 yuan—help me plan it.” Xiao Wei generates a travel itinerary, compares hotel prices, and even creates a “Family Trip” group chat to share the guide. In the afternoon meeting, you ask it to “build a running check-in mini-program that requires three runs per week, each three kilometers,” and it generates a functional prototype within seconds.7].
In this scenario, you no longer need to remember which feature is located in which menu of which app. You speak, and things get done. This isn’t just an upgrade to a voice assistant—it’s a fundamental shift in interaction paradigm: from GUI (graphical user interface) to LUI (language user interface), from “people finding features” to “features finding people.”
A report by Tianfeng Securities presents a core formula: AITAM = Total Salary × Replacement Rate × AI Efficiency Optimization[8They estimate that the total addressable market for AI agents in China alone reaches 3.61 trillion yuan. As AI agents evolve from “white-collar assistants” to “universal personal assistants at everyone’s side,” they are not only replacing repetitive labor but also eliminating the friction cost in human interaction with the digital world.
Four: From "Everyone Online" to "All Assets on Chain": An Invisible Underlying Thread
The history of China's internet development can be summarized by three keywords: connectivity, services, and assetization.
Since China fully connected to the international internet in 1994, the number of internet users has exceeded 1.1 billion, with an internet penetration rate surpassing 78%. “Everyone online” has been largely achieved over three decades. Building on this connectivity, WeChat has enabled “services online” through mini-programs and official accounts—government services, healthcare, finance, education, and nearly all aspects of daily life have been moved online. Today, we stand on the threshold of the third phase: assets on-chain.
Many people’s first reaction to the term “all assets on-chain” is RWA (Real World Assets)—tokenizing traditional assets like real estate, bonds, and gold onto the blockchain. This understanding is correct, but too narrow. True, broad-spectrum “all assets on-chain” should encompass any value that can be authenticated, quantified, and traded:
Your social influence is an asset. The ten years of Moments, private domain traffic, and social connections built on WeChat were once just “data”—in the future, they may be tokenized through SocialFi mechanisms and become the basis for your earnings.9].
Your attention is an asset. When you scroll through videos on short-form platforms, the platforms use algorithms to sell your attention to advertisers for profit. Under Web3 principles, this attention should belong to you and can be captured and valued through tokenization.10In addition, your personal credit may also be an asset. For a long time, credit records have been trapped within data silos of central bank credit systems and internet giants. But as AI agents become everyone’s “digital twin,” the behavioral data,履约 records, and social reputation they accumulate could form an on-chain personal credit system, serving as your “credit collateral” in the DeFi world.
Does this sound distant? It’s closer than you think. According to 21Shares’ 2026 Crypto Market Outlook report, the total value locked in tokenized real-world assets (RWA) is projected to grow from $35 billion in 2025 to over $500 billion in 2026年的.11Roland Berger is more optimistic, predicting that the global tokenized assets market size could reach nearly $11 trillion by 2030[12From real estate to cultural IPs, from airline miles to luxury diamonds, all assets are being reimagined.
Five: When AI Agents Meet RWA: The Future Paradigm of Wealth Management
Let’s look at these two trends together: on one hand, AI agents are taking over the entry points for human interaction with the digital world; on the other hand, global assets are being tokenized at an unprecedented pace. What happens when these two meet?
Imagine this scenario: Your AI agent knows you have a sum of idle funds maturing next month, and it proactively says, “Based on your risk profile and recent market conditions, I recommend allocating 30% to tokenized U.S. Treasuries (currently yielding 4.2% annually), 20% to gold tokens to hedge against inflation, and keeping the remaining 50% in a liquidity pool for immediate access. Would you like me to execute this for you?” You nod, and three seconds later, the allocation is complete—fully settled on-chain, fully compliant and transparent, and fully backed by underlying assets.
This is not science fiction. The "AI Agent + RWA" wealth management paradigm is moving from concept to reality. On the B-side, enterprise-grade agents are already automating high-volume tasks such as invoice verification, SOC alert routing, and data entry, reducing manual workload by over 60%[13On the consumer side, AI finance apps like Albert already offer features such as "automatic savings," "tax planning," and "roadmaps to financial freedom."14When these capabilities are combined with on-chain assets, personal wealth management enters a whole new dimension—your Agent doesn’t just help you track your finances, but also helps you discover, allocate, and rebalance optimal asset portfolios globally.
Six: The Next Future of AI Agents?
As a research institute long focused on the integration of Web3 and traditional finance, EXIO Institute believes that the gray-scale launch of “Xiao Wei” is a signal: AI Agents are moving from “proof of concept” into the “user education” phase. WeChat, with its 1.4 billion users, has helped the entire industry complete the most difficult cold start—enabling ordinary people to use AI Agents for the first time, seamlessly, at zero cost, and with no barriers. Once this step is taken, there is no turning back.
The speed of asset tokenization is also accelerating. In Hong Kong, EXIO Group is deepening its efforts in this space—including building a comprehensive infrastructure for RWA tokenization issuance, secondary market liquidity management, and compliance infrastructure (RWA Launchpad).15A comprehensive end-to-end service system is being positioned for the future of full-asset tokenization and automated trading. The underlying logic of these initiatives aligns with the vision of “micro”: lowering barriers to enable broader participation. WeChat is reducing the barrier to using AI, while more startups are striving to lower the barrier to investing in high-quality assets.
Conclusion: What we are experiencing is more than just a technological upgrade
In 1994, China connected to the internet via a 64K international dedicated line. Few could have imagined that this thin cable would, thirty years later, grow into a digital world indispensable to 1.4 billion people. In 2026, that small green eye icon in WeChat may mark a similar historical turning point—it signals the moment AI Agents transition from “geek toys” to “utilities like water, electricity, and gas,” and foretells that the wave of “all assets on-chain” is about to move from niche to mainstream.
From universal internet access, to full service digitization, to all assets on-chain—each step is not an isolated technological upgrade, but a redefinition of humanity’s relationship with the digital world. And AI Agents are the golden thread that ties it all together.
When 1.4 billion people begin to routinely control everything through speech, when every command could reach an asset on the chain, and when everyone’s attention, credit, and social influence are endowed with financial value—we are not just witnessing a more convenient WeChat, but potentially the emergence of an entirely new wealth paradigm.