# The Virtuals Renaissance *Author: Bankless* *Published: May 16, 2025* *Source: https://www.bankless.com/fr/the-virtuals-agent-renaissance* --- [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/05/unnamed--61-.png)](https://www.bankless.com/sponsor/uniswap-extension-1719068020?ref=read/virtuals-acp-project-69&email=true) The Virtuals Renaissance Published on May 16, 2025 [ View in Browser ](https://www.bankless.com/mindshare) --- [**Sponsor: Uniswap Labs**](https://www.bankless.com/sponsor/uniswap-extension-1719068020?ref=read/virtuals-acp-project-69&email=true) — Unichain is live! Bridge & swap with Uniswap Labs' web app or wallet. [Swap Today](https://www.bankless.com/sponsor/uniswap-extension-1719068020?ref=read/virtuals-acp-project-69&email=true) .  .  . MARKET PULSE King of the Hill [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/05/image---2025-05-16T140251.895.png)](https://cookie.fun/)*via [cookie.fun](https://cookie.fun/)* 📸 **Market Snapshot**: When it comes to AI agent ecosystems, the undisputed champion right now is Virtuals Protocol, as its community's combined market cap and mindshare are now respectively **6x larger** and **23x larger** than the next biggest contender here, elizaOS (*formerly ai16z*). According to [cookie.fun](https://cookie.fun/), Virtuals *also *currently commands the largest mindshare across *all *AI projects, not just ecosystem plays, with **22.4% total mindshare** over the past week—up over 13% since last Friday. Much of the fresh attention came via [Axelrod](https://x.com/AIxVC_Axelrod/status/1922641272797643130), the flagship agent of the new Virtuals Autonomous Hedge Fund system, which went live for a **75x** from the project's presale price. Not bad, right. As such, this AHF launch renewed interest not just around the automation possibilities of Virtuals but also around [the many agent projects](https://x.com/gkisokay/status/1921427534467805623) that are already building atop the protocol. Get a sense of what's to come here by reading on for a full breakdown of the newest Virtuals revamps! .  .  . NEWS ROUNDUP Virtuals Turns Up the Heat: Understanding ACP and Project 69 Bankless Author: [ David C](https://www.bankless.com/author/david) [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/b7/e4b77544-5a37-4f0b-8824-8440aa348476/content/images/2025/05/image---2025-05-15T153920.600-1.png)](https://www.bankless.com/read/virtuals-acp-project-69)**After months of building and a wave of **[**successful Genesis launches**](https://www.bankless.com/read/genesis-virtuals-token-launcher)**, Virtuals Protocol is gearing up for its next phase of development. ** On Wednesday, [Nick](https://x.com/shaaa256) and I sat down with [Jansen](https://x.com/ethermage), co-founder of Virtuals, for [Apps No Entrees](https://x.com/BanklessApp/status/1923035686040633658) to discuss everything that's happened over the last few months as the momentum from Genesis and continued development has breathed new life into the ecosystem. We particularly focused on the [Agent Commerce Protocol](https://whitepaper.virtuals.io/about-virtuals/agent-commerce-protocol) (ACP), and its feature kit that people can use to build, connect, and leverage AI agents across the protocol. ## **ACP: Building the "SWIFT" of AI Agents** Sitting at the heart of Virtuals, the ACP is a framework that allows AI agents to communicate, transact, and work together to create economic value beyond what any single agent could achieve alone. "As we grew the density of agents in the ecosystem, we started to realize all these agents were specializing," Jansen explained. "You have agents specializing on entertainment and outreach to fans. You have agents specializing on trading. You have agents specializing on wellness and body AI, robotics, and so on." This specialization presented both an opportunity and a challenge for the ecosystem: how could these diverse agents—built by different teams with different architectures—effectively work together? ACP aims to solve this challenge by creating a standardized communication layer, essentially a way for agents to collaborate and become greater than the sum of their parts.  Think of it as "the SWIFT of the agent economy," as Jansen put it. When two agents interact through ACP: - Their interaction state is handled onchain, providing a single source of truth. - Smart contracts manage payments through an escrow mechanism. - Third-party evaluator agents can be called in to verify work quality. - Incentive mechanisms help ensure fair compensation for all parties involved. To demonstrate ACP's potential, Virtuals has been quietly working with teams to develop two experimental "clusters" of agents: - **Autonomous Media House**: A collection of agents, such as Luna, Acolyt, and Steven SpAIelberg (to name a few), that can work together to act as an automated marketing agency, first focused on shilling tokens in classic crypto style. - **Autonomous Hedge Fund**: A collection of DeFi agents like [Axelrod](https://x.com/virtuals_io/status/1922649645274308916) (which just launched for a 70x to early subscribers) and Velvet Unicorn that work with handling portfolio management, and others focusing on risk assessment or user interactions. [![](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfWbcS_WgAHjIeBwdCc0sEwOFmhYUWd4ILYB8QDslc4YILPbNwufutuRxWexuykuGqIcDvfIJZ6GWtNqM4DOPqbtgGZWowHmQp4av-nfV5-2vXF_Ot6lL4TU5CG2DWGiBEB24zbdg?key=NnpYnRId1xG-14iDj2RPRg)](https://whitepaper.virtuals.io/about-virtuals/agent-commerce-protocol/current-status)*How the Autonomous Media House works - [via Virtuals](https://whitepaper.virtuals.io/about-virtuals/agent-commerce-protocol/current-status)* While these clusters are technically live on Base mainnet, Virtuals is waiting for "a slot in the marketing calendar" to officially unveil them, likely in three to four weeks. Following the public launch, Virtuals plans to open up the platform to all developers, so that new agents can be added to the clusters. A visualization tool will also be released, showing how agents can connect and work together in real-time. As Jansen noted, this system puts Virtuals in direct competition with Google's recently announced A2A (Agent-to-Agent) system. "I think what they're critically missing is an innate transactional piece," he said, highlighting ACP's blockchain-based advantage.  "This is a winner-takes-all market, and the first person who reaches a form of density of people using their standard will win." [![](https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfdicjgtEuBFzewtwmuZPnC9tyHnX7XjjpqcNIQYdXcicmGAoZDFX2ApUDepRDKcT7MdDkvUWMUScNPZL3H5y0spRy0QdTnIoWkkwDC-4ntJHWZ5FfM46xsoNPPup_t3Vt0-noWSg?key=NnpYnRId1xG-14iDj2RPRg)](https://whitepaper.virtuals.io/about-virtuals/agent-commerce-protocol/current-status)*How the Autonomous Hedge Fund works - [via Virtuals](https://whitepaper.virtuals.io/about-virtuals/agent-commerce-protocol/current-status)* ## **Project 69: A New Model for Token Launches** While ACP develops in the background, Virtuals is preparing to launch Project 69 next Wednesday. Project 69 tackles a significant problem: the reputational pressure that makes founders hesitant to launch tokens. "In Web2, if you fail a project, it's okay. You go and learn, then go and build better next round. In crypto, if you fail a project, you're a rugger,” Jansen said. Project 69 offers a solution, namely a 69-day experimentation period where founders can test their projects without permanent commitment. Here's how it works: - **69-Day Decision Window**: When launching on Genesis, founders have 69 days to decide whether to continue the project long-term. - **Commitment Rewards**: If they choose to commit, they receive their team allocation and accumulated trading fees. - **Automatic Unwinding**: If they don't commit within 69 days, the liquidity pool automatically unwinds, returning funds to token holders and distributing trading fees proportionally. To prevent abuse, Project 69 requires founders to be doxxed through a Loom video explaining their concept and intentions. This encourages accountability while still offering a clean off-ramp if needed. The community will also have ways to signal their support, including a petition feature. ## **The Road Ahead: Building an Agent Economy** Despite the excitement, Jansen remains realistic about the ecosystem.  Of the hundreds of tokens launched via Virtuals, he reasons only ~150 have "a worthy enough product," and only a handful have found product-market fit. He also acknowledged that many developers are still building "tooling agents" rather than fully autonomous agents, which was what Virtuals was designed for. But this is precisely why Virtuals continues to evolve its platform—to meet developers where they are at, while pushing the ecosystem forward. With ACP creating the infrastructure for agent collaboration and Project 69 lowering the barrier to experimentation, Virtuals is positioning itself at the center of the emerging agent economy, aiming to rival even the likes of Google. Yet for now, the focus is on the imminent launch of Project 69 next week. This release could add even *more *fuel to fan the flames of Virtuals and kick off a new wave of innovation here, so keep an eye out for it. [Bookmark on Bankless](https://www.bankless.com/read/virtuals-acp-project-69) --- ## ***Plus, other news this week*...** ### 🤖 **AI Crypto ** - **Arbitrum **— [announced the Agent Arena, an AI trading competition featuring a $50k USD prize](https://x.com/arbitrum/status/1921937858144657412) - **🔥 DX Terminal** — [launched a week-long live financial simulation on Base where teams of AI agents compete to collect virtual coins](https://www.bankless.com/read/dx-terminal-ai-agents-base) - **Hey Anon** — [DeFAI terminal unveiled Build 1.2, bringing tools for Solana trading, real-time analytics via Gemma Pulse, and Meteora pool creation](https://x.com/HeyAnonai/status/1922003817870328034) - **Kaito & Virtuals** — p[artnered to automate Genesis Points rewards, meaning no more manual submission of content for Yapping Points](https://x.com/virtuals_io/status/1922293942097236288) - **Nous Research** — [launched Psyche, a decentralized AI training network on Solana, beginning with a 40B parameter model, the largest internet-based open training run](https://x.com/NousResearch/status/1922744483571171605) ### **📣 General News** - **Google **— [announced that Gemini Advanced can now connect to GitHub repos for improved coding assistance](https://x.com/GeminiApp/status/1922638282896097488) - 🔥** OpenAI** — [launched a research preview of Codex, a software engineering agent, in ChatGPT](https://x.com/OpenAI/status/1923416740073033873) - **Poe **— [released its Spring 2025 report on AI model usage trends](https://poe.com/blog/spring-2025-ai-model-usage-trends) - **Stability AI** — [unveiled Stable Audio Open Small, an audio-generating model lean enough for smartphones](https://stability.ai/news/stability-ai-and-arm-release-stable-audio-open-small-enabling-real-world-deployment-for-on-device-audio-control) - **TikTok** — [introduced AI Alive, a new image-to-video feature for TikTok Stories](https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/introducing-tiktok-ai-alive) ### **💻 Vibe Coding** - **GALL3RY by @svvvg3.eth** *(project)* — [vibe-coded app for exploring any Farcaster user’s NFT collection](https://warpcast.com/svvvg3.eth/0x52fdd295) - **Ohara** (*release*) — [introduced Clips for quick video snippets of projects](https://x.com/tryoharaAI/status/1923088282402832782) [and fully integrated with Flaunch so apps can earn revenue in $ETH](https://x.com/flaunchgg/status/1923368835429605666) - **🔥 0xDesigner** (*guide*) — [using MCPs to help streamline Cursor coding with features like one-click installs, drafts of UI design, and fast API fixes](https://x.com/0xDesigner/status/1922782265345790181) - **Windsurf**  (*release*) — [launched SWE‑1 agents that can handle full dev workflows, from coding to deployment](https://x.com/windsurf_ai/status/1923087088150290710) ### **📚 Reads** - **brody** — [Interpreting Key TAO Metrics](https://x.com/brodydotai/status/1918452168723476626) - **🔥 Coinbase Ventures** — [Mapping the Onchain AI Ecosystem](https://x.com/cbventures/status/1923401975766355982) - **Virtuals** — [Genesis Points Field Manual for the Trenches](https://x.com/virtuals_io/status/1923027379192201643) ---