I'm not saying the author of the software is to blame. This has nothing to do with him! I'm saying why it became so popular.

i'd say the crypto angle is only one factor. as is usual in the real world, effects are multifactorial.

clawdbot also rode the wave of claude-code being popular (perhaps due to underlying models getting better making agents more useful). a lot of "personal agents" were made in 2024 and early 2025 which seem to be before the underlying models/ecosystems were as mature.

no doubt we're still very early in this wave. i'm sure google and apple will release their offerings. they are the 800lb gorillas in all this.