VIRTUAL breaks through $0.85, is a new upward cycle for the AI agent ecosystem coming?

VIRTUAL（Virtuals Protocol） rose 8.70% in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.85. This is not an isolated price fluctuation but the result of multiple factors working together. From capital flows, fundamentals to market sentiment, there is solid support behind this rise. More notably, this project is at the center of a larger industry trend—the rise of AI agent economies and application-specific currencies.

The Complete Picture of Price Trends

Looking at the data, VIRTUAL’s performance is far more than a one-day increase:

This data combination is quite interesting. The 30-day decline, but a strong rebound over 7 days, and continued rise in 24 hours. What does this indicate? The market is gradually recovering from the bottom, rather than a momentary speculative impulse.

The current market cap has reached $560 million, an increase of $44.8 million from yesterday. The 24-hour trading volume hit $241 million, indicating a significant increase in participation.

The Triple Drivers of the Rise

Positive Shift in Capital Flows

According to the latest news, institutional-level funds are starting to position in VIRTUAL. This is crucial—not just retail FOMO, but substantial capital increasing positions during the price adjustment. Such funds usually indicate recognition of the project’s long-term prospects.

On-chain data also supports this: active spot users surged to 3,700, reaching the highest level since December last year. Liquidity inflows reached $24.4 million, and derivatives trading activity shows strong buying pressure.

Fundamentals Are Gradually Improving

Virtuals Protocol is building an ecosystem for an AI agent society. The core of this ecosystem is based on four pillars:

• Agent Commerce Protocol (ACP): Enables seamless autonomous commercial interactions between agents
• Butler: Acts as the gateway for agent supply chains within the ecosystem, connecting humans with the global AI agent network
• Capital Markets: Provides capital formation mechanisms for tokenized AI agents, with $VIRTUAL as the social currency
• Robotics: Extends AI agents into the physical world

This is not just talk. According to relevant information, the project has practical applications—Luna (emotional agents) and AIXBT (productivity agents) are operational, with protocol daily income exceeding $26,000.

Market Sentiment Is Shifting

Community voting shows over 83% of voters are bullish on VIRTUAL. This reflects a reassessment of the project’s prospects. When market sentiment shifts from cautious observation to active participation, price increases often follow.

The Larger Industry Context

This rise is not isolated. Industry reports indicate that a key trend by 2026 will be the rise of “application-specific currencies.”

Take Virtuals Protocol as an example: when users create AI agents, they issue a dedicated token for each agent. All agent tokens are paired with the platform’s native token VIRTUAL—buying an agent token requires VIRTUAL, and providing liquidity also needs VIRTUAL. The more popular the platform and the more useful the AI agents, the greater the demand for VIRTUAL.

What does this mean? VIRTUAL is not just a token but the “Silicon Valley Nasdaq” of the entire ecosystem. The project’s goal is to enable everyone to hold the productivity of AI, with VIRTUAL serving as the universal currency within this ecosystem.

Risks and Opportunities Coexist

It should be noted that while fundamentals are positive, technical signals still show potential downside risks. Liquidation cluster data indicates high leverage positions remain in the market, which could trigger a chain reaction if prices fall rapidly.

On the other hand, rebounding from a recent low of $0.64 to $0.85, breaking through key technical support levels. If it can hold this level and continue toward $0.89 or higher, this rise could truly mark the beginning of a new cycle.

Summary

VIRTUAL’s recent rise is supported by three factors: ongoing institutional capital deployment, gradually improving ecosystem fundamentals, and market sentiment shifting from cautious to optimistic. More importantly, this project is at the heart of a larger industry trend—the rise of AI agent economies and application-specific currencies.

In the short term, this may be just a technical rebound. But in the medium and long term, if the AI agent economy develops as industry expectations suggest, demand for VIRTUAL as the ecosystem’s universal currency will continue to grow. The key is to observe whether this momentum can be maintained, especially with ongoing institutional participation.