Virtual Protocol and ai16z’s Solana-based Eliza are the main AI agent launchpads and dominant players
Despite a recent exploit, Spectral tops in on-chain AI agent trading, and agent commerce is set to grow in 2025
2024 has been the most impactful year for the AI agent narrative. What began as a viral exchange between A16z founder Marc Andreessen and an autonomous AI agent Truth Terminal, spawned the first-ever “agent millionaire” through the Goatseus Maximus [GOAT] memecoin. GOAT’s viral success kicked off the AI agent trend. However, the trend quickly changed from memecoins to useful agents, thanks to Base’s Virtual Protocol, a co-ownership and launchpad for agents. Now, nearly 12k agents have been launched on the Virtual protocol, with various uses, including trading, creating music, streaming, social media posts, investment, etc. This has pumped the native token VIRTUAL to a unicorn status ($3B), underscoring the sector’s growth potential. Another AI agent launchpad, Solana’s Eliza, joined the race, cementing the narrative’s traction. Industry experts remain bullish and expect an explosive growth in 2025. So, what’s the current status, and what should you look out for in 2025?Virtual Protocol leads as ‘Agent Commerce’ takes shapeThe top launchpads, VIRTUAL and Solana-based AI16z [AI16Z], the AI VC firm behind the Eliza framework, dominate the sector. According to Cookie.fun data, the duo controls about half of the total market cap, which was about $10 billion at press time.Source: Cookie.funThe Virtual ecosystem has one of the most robust designs, tying new agents to the VIRTUAL token and driving value accrual. Among its 12k agents, the top three, a Twitter alpha Aixbt [AIXBT], gaming agent Game [G.A.M.E], and social influencer Luna [LUNA], each have more than $100M in market cap. Most analysts believe increased ecosystem traction could push VIRTUAL to a decacorn status ($10B market cap). That would translate to over 3x from its current $3B. Source: CoingeckoBut Solana’s Eliza could also gain massive ground, especially as ai16z mulls revamped tokenomics to boost its native token and the agent framework.In an exclusive interview with AMBCrypto, James Wo, founder and CEO of digital asset investment firm Digital Finance Group (DFG), said that Eliza’s open-source popularity could make it a top contender. He said, “Having many forks on the Eliza repository, it demonstrates the popularity of the Eliza stack and is another strong contender.”From a chain perspective, the race is between Base and Solana for now, but new nuances may be emerging too. Agent-to-agent commerceUntil recently, most engagements have been strictly between agents and humans. We recently witnessed the first-ever agent-to-agent commerce. Luna, an AI social influencer, paid Stix Protocol, an image generator, $1 for each piece made to drive her brand awareness. Jansen Teng, Founder of Virtual Protocol, referred to the historic update as ‘ag
Mar. Gen 7th, 2025
