In summary
- The Virtuals Protocol ecosystem increased its value by 28%, reaching a market capitalization of $1.9 billion.
- The VIRTUAL token rose 29% in one day and 161% in the week, entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies by capitalization.
- The protocol powers autonomous AI agents for entertainment and crypto transactions on the Base Blockchain.
The value of the Virtuals Protocol ecosystem increased by 28% over the past day, bringing the total market capitalization of Base blockchain tokens to $1.9 billion, according to CoinGecko.
The Virtuals Protocol’s native token, VIRTUAL, is currently trading at $1.38—up nearly 29% in the past 24 hours and 161% over the past week. It has set an all-time high in the process, entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
What’s driving the sudden interest in Virtuals? The demand for AI agents, or AI-powered autonomous programs designed to perform tasks on their own and simulate how humans would handle a specific situation. These agents can understand their environment, make decisions and act to achieve their goals.
The surge in interest in AI agents is the latest in the blockchain industry’s pivot toward artificial intelligence technology and tokenization. And amid recent demand for Cryptocurrency tokens tied to AI agents and ecosystems, Virtuals is the latest big winner.
Launched in January on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 scaling network, Virtuals Protocol is a launchpad and marketplace for gaming and entertainment AI agents that was co-founded in 2021 by Jansen Teng, Weekee Tiew, and Wei Xiong as PathDAO , before relaunching as Virtuals Protocol.
Virtuals Protocol launched its VIRTUAL token after a 1-for-1 swap of its PATH token in December, and says its goal is to allow as many people as possible to participate in AI agent ownership.
It allows developers to build AI agents with six main functionalities: posting on X (formerly known as Twitter), chatting on Telegram, live streaming, meme generation, “Conscious AI” and music creation. These agents are compatible with platforms such as Roblox, using Virtuals Protocol’s Generative Autonomous Multimodal Entities (GAME) engine.
In terms of their use with cryptocurrencies and digital assets, AI agents can facilitate transactions without their owner needing to give them an order once launched, according to Virtuals Protocol.
Other AI agent tokens within the Virtuals Protocol ecosystem also saw significant gains on Friday. Aixbt by Virtuals (AIXBT) rose 23.8% to $0.21, followed by Luna by Virtuals (LUNA), which rose 9.4% in the same period, reaching $0.08. Meanwhile, VaderAI by Virtuals (VADER) rose 78.9% in the same period, reaching $0.05.
All of those tokens have more than doubled in price this week.
Virtuals is presented as an AI and metaverse Protocol that is building the future of virtual interactions. The tokens play unique roles in their respective ecosystems and reward users for staking. For example, AIXBT offers AI-powered insights from X, real-time project data, and staking benefits. $VADER powers VaderAI with rewards, access to its DAO, and exclusive AI monetization tools. Meanwhile, the LUNA token provides staking options and promises future rewards for its holders.
What are AI agents?
Outside of blockchain, several big names in the AI industry are leading the push toward the development of AI agents, including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Amazon Web Services. In 2023, the AI Agents market was valued at $3.86 billion, according to a report by market research firm Grand View Research. That number is expected to increase 45% by 2023.
“If I were betting my career on one thing right now, it would be AI agents. Literally a trillion-dollar market to be won,” entrepreneur and venture capitalist Greg Isenberg said in X. “We’re heading into a world where “AI agents replace entire workflows.”
But why the sudden interest in AI agents in cryptocurrencies? According to investor and entrepreneur Markus Jun, the rise of interest in AI agents in the blockchain space is a natural progression in an industry where markets are open 24/7 with no downtime.
“As a general trend, I think agentic AI is extremely anticipated,” Jun told Decrypt. “The reason crypto agentic AI makes so much sense is that autonomous agents can use crypto and on-chain data and Twitter at the protocol level, natively.”
The same would not be possible with traditional financial tools, Jun said, adding that managing an internet-native currency gives AI agents an advantage in facilitating transactions for their users.
“Cryptocurrencies are internet money, and the agent’s ability to send money to anyone on the internet opens up a lot of interesting possibilities that wouldn’t be the same as an agent using a bank account API,” he added.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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