Standing out among numerous AI Agent platforms, Virtuals relies on more than just a "first-mover advantage."
Original Article Title: Getting Virtual'ed
Original Article Author: Defi0xJeff, Founder of Steak Studio
Original Article Translation: zhouzhou, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: This article introduces Virtuals, a leading AI agent ecosystem with 15,000+ agents and $60M in revenue, has become a core platform for AI innovation. Through agent creation, alliances, and sub-DAO incentive mechanisms, it drives ecosystem development. Additionally, the platform optimizes its economic model through token buybacks and burns. Future growth drivers include CEX listings, more partners, and price volatility. Although the viewpoint is biased towards Virtuals, investment requires own research (DYOR).
The following is the original content (slightly reorganized for better readability):
Back in November 2024, I published an article titled "Why Virtuals Will Become a Unicorn Before the New Year." Just one week later, VIRTUAL achieved unicorn status.

At that time, virtuals io was the primary AI agent ecosystem, and ai16zdao was just starting to gain attention among developers. The AI agent market at that time was relatively simple, with only a few agents focusing on personalization and Alpha.
Virtuals' data at that time:
· Over 2,000 agents online
· Cumulative revenue of $20 million
· 40 agents on the Sentient dashboard (including 5+ well-known top agents)
Fast forward to today:
Virtuals has firmly established its position as a leader in the AI agent distribution network. In just four months, it has achieved the following:
· Over 15,000 agents online
· Cumulative revenue of $60 million
· 597 agents on the Sentient dashboard (including 50–100 well-known top agents)
Although VIRTUAL's market cap has retraced from its all-time high of $5 billion to its current $2.9 billion, development progress is accelerating:
·aixbt agent, the top-ranked agent on Virtuals, is starting to decouple from the parent ecosystem. This demonstrates that Virtuals has provided an excellent standalone growth platform for agents.

Virtuals now holds a trust and influence similar to a top Layer 1, becoming the preferred distribution channel for protocols, institutions, and major brands, and is the core platform in the AI agent space.
AI x Gaming Sector
In the AI x Gaming sector, Virtuals has already partnered with the following top brands:
·illuviumio
·Ronin Network
·SovrunOfficial
·avariksaga
·animocabrands
These partnerships are driving industry boundaries further through innovations like AI NPCs, AI-driven gameplay dynamics, and more.

Beyond the Gaming Sector: High-Performance Utility Agents
Virtuals also excels in collaborating with protocols to build high-performance utility agents. For example:
·taocat agent ➔ Virtuals x getmasafi: Integrating the Bittensor subnet to achieve self-learning and adaptive agents.
·Gekko Agent ➔ Virtuals x getaxal: Showcasing Axal's Autopilot automated trading functionality.
·Agent YP ➔ Virtuals x yellowpantherx: Bringing game-centric market analysis features to the CT community.

Unique Agent Instances
Here are some unique agent instances launched on the Virtuals platform:
·luna virtuals: Top-tier personalized virtual idol (formerly StoryProtocol intern)
·AcolytAI: Provides AI Oracle infrastructure for all Virtuals agents
·trustme bros: Market/trading entry and exit signal alerts
·0x nomAI: Provides on-chain analysis/terminal functionality for agents
·Freya Starfall: AI NPC in the Starfall EN game
·PH: Decentralized AI model powered by PondGNN to support Virtual agents
·MusicByVirtuals: Music generation agent, collaborating with DJ Wukong
·santavirtuals: Distributes rewards to Virtuals agents via questflow
·AgentSploots: On-chain advertising network agent
·h4ck terminal: White-hat vulnerability discovery agent
·CertaiK Agent: Smart contract audit agent
·CPA: Automates tax handling for agents
·polytraderAI: Autonomous market prediction agent
·Misato virtuals: NFT artist agent
·Byte AI: Agent developing human-grade food
The Virtuals ecosystem is thriving, with various agents continuously innovating in all directions.
Agent Collaboration
Collaboration among agents is also accelerating. Virtuals recently partnered with infinityg ai to develop a multi-agent collaboration system (Agent Business Model).

DAO Investment and On-Chain AI Venture Capital
DAO investments and AI-focused venture capital are supporting Virtuals projects:
·Vader AI: Top-tier investment DAO creation platform for Virtual projects
·sekoia virtuals: Tier 1 grassroots AI venture capital, investing in selected Virtuals projects
·aixCB Vc: Investment DAO focusing on DeSCI and AI initiatives
·wai combinator: Active investment DAO and incubator in the Virtuals space

These institutions provide funding, marketing support, and credibility assurance to help new agents quickly gain attention.
Flywheel Effect
Virtuals is in full swing, relying on a powerful VIRTUAL/AGENT token liquidity pool, a sustainable tokenomics, and an excellent team skilled in storytelling and incubating AI agents. Mathematically, VIRTUAL is bound to break through a $100 billion market cap.

The new 1% tax distribution further incentivizes innovation:
· 30% allocated to agent creators
· 20% allocated to agent alliance
· 50% allocated to agent sub-DAO
This ensures that creators have cash flow support, alliances drive transaction volume growth, and token holders manage treasury funds.

Since October 2024, a total of 12,990,427.85 VIRTUAL in trading revenue has been accumulated for token buyback and burn.
The future belongs to Virtuals
Virtuals remains the first-generation AI agent ecosystem, with the largest number of high-quality unique agents. The catalysts are obvious—CEX listings, more partnerships, more collaborations, and more price volatility. Still think Virtuals tech is bad?
Disclaimer:
I am somewhat biased in my views on Virtuals (fully disclosed, I hold a significant amount of VIRTUAL). Please be sure to do your research before making any decisions.
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Within 24 hours, GOONC's market cap soared to 70 million, could GOONC be the next billion-dollar dog on the Believe platform?
Bitcoin has broken $100,000, Ethereum has surpassed 2500, and is Solana's hot streak about to make a comeback?
The current market is in a state of macro euphoria, with GOONC riding the wave today, skyrocketing 10x in just a few hours, reaching a market cap of tens of millions of dollars, trading volume soaring past 50 million, and rumors swirling that the developer may be from OpenAI (unconfirmed but intriguing enough).
A ludicrous and absurd Solana meme that some actually buy into.
GOONC is a meme coin that has sprouted from the "gooning" subculture, offering no technological innovation or practical use, its sole function being speculation.
It takes inspiration from an NSFW term "gooning," which refers to a person being deeply immersed in certain content (you know what), eventually entering a nearly religious-like trance.
In Reddit (such as r/GOONED, r/GoonCaves) and some counterculture media outlets (such as MEL Magazine in 2020), "gooning" has gradually transitioned from an adult label to a meme-addicted, digital content and virtual self-indulgence synonym, arguably the epitome of Degen spirit.
GOONC is playing around with this concept, packaging the addictive nature, uselessness, and irony of gooning into a tradable financial product. The project team has made it clear: "We do not solve blockchain problems, we only trade absurdity." Blunt but oddly genuine.
GOONC launched on May 13, 2025, using the meme coin launch platform Believe App's LaunchCoin module on Solana. This tool is highly Degen: zero technical barriers, a few clicks to create a coin, perfect for projects like GOONC that can come up with ideas out of the blue.
The mastermind behind GOONC is also quite something and is the most talked-about, with KOL @basedalexandoor on X platform (alias "Pata van Goon") personally involved. His profile even caught the attention of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, making onlookers unable to resist speculating if GOONC has a hint of OpenAI lineage.
While this 'OpenAI Endorsement' is currently just community speculation, it is definitely a good card to play to fuel hype. Saying "we are pure speculation" on one hand, while tagging a few "AI + a16z" on the other.
GOONC took off as soon as it launched. After its launch on May 13, 2025, its market capitalization skyrocketed to $22 million within 4 hours, with a trading volume exceeding $25.6 million in 24 hours. According to platform data, the first day of trading saw an astonishing +41,100% surge, soaring from $0.0000001 to $0.02, becoming a "missed-the-boat" situation.
GOONC quickly formed an active trading community post-launch, with a lot of discussion and trading signals appearing on X platform (such as the 292x return signal provided by DeBot). Liquidity pools on exchanges like Raydium and Meteora grew rapidly, supporting high trading volumes and price increases.
The real climax occurred between May 13 and May 14, with the market cap rising to $5.5 million in the morning and directly surpassing $55 million in the afternoon. By the 14th, it briefly approached a $70 million market cap, with the trading volume soaring to $59 million. Some community members even posted screenshots claiming an increase of +85,000%, creating a new myth out of the ruins.
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1. "What Is 'ICM'? Holding Up the $4 Billion Market Cap Solana's New Narrative"
Overnight, the hottest narrative in the crypto space has become "Internet Capital Markets," with a host of crypto projects and founders, led by the Solana ecosystem's new Launchpad platform Believe, releasing this phrase. Together with "Believe in something," it has become the new slogan heralding the onset of a bull market. What exactly is the so-called "Internet Capital Market," will it become a short-lived hype phrase like the Base ecosystem's previous Content Coin, and what related targets are available for selection?2.《LaunchCoin Surges 20x in One Day, How Did Believe Create a $200M Market Cap Shiba Inu After Going to Zero?|100x Retrospective》
LAUNCHCOIN broke through a $200 million market cap today, with the long-lost liquidity and such a high market cap "Memecoin" almost bringing half of the on-chain crypto community CT into the fray. The community is crazily discussing this token, with half of it being FOMO and the other half being FUD. This token, originally issued by Believe founder Ben Pasternak under his personal identity, transformed into a new platform token after a renaming. From once going to zero to a $200 million market cap, what happened in between?May 14 On-chain Fund Flow
Within 24 hours, GOONC's market cap soared to 70 million, could GOONC be the next billion-dollar dog on the Believe platform?
Bitcoin has broken $100,000, Ethereum has surpassed 2500, and is Solana's hot streak about to make a comeback?
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A ludicrous and absurd Solana meme that some actually buy into.
GOONC is a meme coin that has sprouted from the "gooning" subculture, offering no technological innovation or practical use, its sole function being speculation.
It takes inspiration from an NSFW term "gooning," which refers to a person being deeply immersed in certain content (you know what), eventually entering a nearly religious-like trance.
In Reddit (such as r/GOONED, r/GoonCaves) and some counterculture media outlets (such as MEL Magazine in 2020), "gooning" has gradually transitioned from an adult label to a meme-addicted, digital content and virtual self-indulgence synonym, arguably the epitome of Degen spirit.
GOONC is playing around with this concept, packaging the addictive nature, uselessness, and irony of gooning into a tradable financial product. The project team has made it clear: "We do not solve blockchain problems, we only trade absurdity." Blunt but oddly genuine.
GOONC launched on May 13, 2025, using the meme coin launch platform Believe App's LaunchCoin module on Solana. This tool is highly Degen: zero technical barriers, a few clicks to create a coin, perfect for projects like GOONC that can come up with ideas out of the blue.
The mastermind behind GOONC is also quite something and is the most talked-about, with KOL @basedalexandoor on X platform (alias "Pata van Goon") personally involved. His profile even caught the attention of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, making onlookers unable to resist speculating if GOONC has a hint of OpenAI lineage.
While this 'OpenAI Endorsement' is currently just community speculation, it is definitely a good card to play to fuel hype. Saying "we are pure speculation" on one hand, while tagging a few "AI + a16z" on the other.
GOONC took off as soon as it launched. After its launch on May 13, 2025, its market capitalization skyrocketed to $22 million within 4 hours, with a trading volume exceeding $25.6 million in 24 hours. According to platform data, the first day of trading saw an astonishing +41,100% surge, soaring from $0.0000001 to $0.02, becoming a "missed-the-boat" situation.
GOONC quickly formed an active trading community post-launch, with a lot of discussion and trading signals appearing on X platform (such as the 292x return signal provided by DeBot). Liquidity pools on exchanges like Raydium and Meteora grew rapidly, supporting high trading volumes and price increases.
The real climax occurred between May 13 and May 14, with the market cap rising to $5.5 million in the morning and directly surpassing $55 million in the afternoon. By the 14th, it briefly approached a $70 million market cap, with the trading volume soaring to $59 million. Some community members even posted screenshots claiming an increase of +85,000%, creating a new myth out of the ruins.
As of 1:30 pm on May 14, the price stabilized around $0.039, with a total market cap and FDV both around $39.6 million, and a 24-hour trading volume of $5.43 million. Active platforms include XT.COM, LBank, Meteora, and others.
Although there was a slight pullback from the peak ($0.07), the coin's popularity remains strong. For a coin that relies purely on "irony + community + X post" to thrive, this performance is already at a stellar level.
Currently, the background of the token's development team is not transparent, increasing the potential risk of a rug pull. Rugcheck.xyz warns that the creator of the GOONC contract may have permission to modify the contract (e.g., change fees or mint additional tokens), posing certain security risks.
Community members speculate that the meteoric rise of GOONC may be the "last hurrah".