By Jonatan Randin, Senior Market Analyst at PrimeXBT
AI agents have become one of crypto’s hottest narratives, and Virtuals Protocol sits at the centre of it. The platform enables anyone to create, tokenise, and co-own autonomous AI agents that generate revenue across gaming, social media, and trading. At its peak in early 2025, VIRTUAL briefly touched a $5 billion market cap before correcting sharply alongside the broader AI token sector.
But here’s an uncomfortable question worth considering: in a world where powerful AI agent frameworks are completely free, does a tokenised alternative actually make sense?
What is Virtuals Protocol?
Virtuals Protocol is a decentralised platform for launching AI agents on blockchain. Founded by Jansen Teng and Wee Kee Tiew, the project evolved from PathDAO, a gaming guild that raised $16 million in seed funding before pivoting to AI agents in early 2024. The platform operates primarily on Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network, with expansions to Solana and Ethereum mainnet.
The core innovation is co-ownership. When someone creates an agent, they stake 100 VIRTUAL tokens. The system then mints agent-specific tokens paired with VIRTUAL in liquidity pools locked for ten years. Over 17,000 agents have been created, with cumulative protocol revenue exceeding $39.5 million.
Notable agents include Luna, a 24/7 AI livestreamer with 500,000+ TikTok followers, and AIXBT, which monitors 400+ crypto influencers and reached a $500 million market cap at its peak. These successes suggest real engagement, though they remain exceptions among thousands of agents.
Beyond crypto: The real competitors
This is where things get complicated. Virtuals isn’t just competing against other crypto projects. It’s competing against free, open-source AI agent frameworks backed by hundreds of millions in venture capital.
LangChain has 118,000+ GitHub stars and over $160 million in venture funding. CrewAI claims 60% of Fortune 500 companies use their framework. AutoGPT has 181,500 GitHub stars. These frameworks offer massive developer communities, extensive documentation, and zero financial barriers.
A question worth considering: why would developers buy tokens and navigate crypto wallets when they can build the same thing for free with better tooling? The honest answer is that they most probably won’t.
That said, the bull case isn’t without merit. Virtuals’ architecture creates structural demand for VIRTUAL because every agent token pairs with it. If any agent succeeds, VIRTUAL benefits. It’s the “picks and shovels” play of the AI agent narrative. Partnerships like the Animoca Brands joint venture signal mainstream gaming industry interest.
On the other hand, there are risks worth weighing. Over 53% of all cryptocurrencies ever launched have failed. On-chain metrics for Virtuals showed concerning declines in late 2025, with daily active addresses dropping sharply from November peaks. These aren’t necessarily reasons to panic, but they may be reasons to approach with caution.
Price performance
VIRTUAL was trading at around $0.03 in late 2024 and rallied to an all-time high of $5.07 on 2 January 2025, representing gains exceeding 16,000%. Since then, it’s corrected to trade in the $0.70 to $1.20 range, roughly 80% below its peak.
Daily chart analysis
On the daily timeframe, the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) sits above price at around $0.84. A reclaim of this level could potentially signal a reversal and another push to the upside, as has occurred multiple times previously when this level has been tested.
However, there’s a pattern worth noting. Each consecutive high has been lower than the last, forming what resembles a descending triangle structure. This could suggest that even though the current zone represents strong support, buyers may be becoming less interested in pushing price higher with each test.
Adding to this, the time between each test of the support zone has been decreasing, which could potentially be interpreted as a sign of weakening demand. Looking at the longer-term technical picture, if this high-timeframe level fails to hold as support, there’s a possibility of more sustained downward pressure.
The RSI offers some additional context. It hasn’t yet reached the oversold levels seen prior to previous larger bounces, suggesting there could potentially be more downside before VIRTUAL becomes truly oversold.
For those viewing this project as having longer-term bullish potential, current levels might represent a reasonable area for averaging into a position. Meanwhile, intraday traders watching for signs of increased buying volume and pressure at these levels might find potential opportunities for short-term bounces within the current range.
Trading VIRTUAL/USDT with PrimeXBT
The growing attention around AI agent tokens like VIRTUAL highlights how quickly new narratives can gain momentum in crypto markets. As interest concentrates around emerging assets, timely access becomes increasingly important for traders.
PrimeXBT, a global multi-asset broker, has recently expanded its Crypto Futures offering with 40 new trading pairs, including VIRTUAL, broadening coverage across high-demand segments such as Layer-1 and Layer-2 networks, DeFi, infrastructure, AI-related tokens, and community-driven assets. The newly listed markets have been selected based on liquidity depth and clear trader demand, supporting more efficient execution in volatile conditions.
VIRTUAL is now available as a USDT-margined crypto futures contract, alongside assets such as CELO, DYDX, SNX, ZK, and ZRO. Most newly added pairs support 100–150x maximum leverage, with higher order size limits applied to markets with stronger liquidity profiles, allowing for more flexible position management.
Alongside the listings, PrimeXBT has expanded its zero-fee trading offering on selected Crypto Futures pairs, complementing its broader low-fee structure. With access to over 350 markets across crypto and CFDs, and funding supported by more than 100 global, local, crypto, and fiat payment methods, the broker aims to give traders the flexibility to engage with fast-moving market trends as they emerge.
Start trading Crypto Futures with PrimeXBT.
About PrimeXBT
PrimeXBT is a global multi-asset broker and crypto asset service provider trusted by traders in more than 150 countries. The platform bridges traditional and digital markets within one integrated environment, redefining versatility and innovation in online trading. Clients can access Forex, CFDs on indices, commodities, shares, crypto, and Crypto Futures, as well as buy, store and exchange cryptocurrencies directly. This unified experience extends across both the native PXTrader platform and MetaTrader 5, supported by advanced risk-management tools and a wide range of funding options in crypto, fiat and local payment methods. Since 2018, PrimeXBT has focused on empowering traders through broad multi-asset access, fair and transparent conditions, professional-grade technology and dedicated human support. By combining expertise, trust and a client-first approach, PrimeXBT sets a benchmark of excellence in the financial industry and provides traders with the tools they need to trade, grow and succeed with confidence.
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