Ethereum Rises Again with AI: Virtuals and ACP Open a New Chapter in the Agent Market

While discussing the capabilities of Agents, Virtuals has already set its sights on a grander vision—collaboration and settlement between Agents, as well as building an on-chain Agent labor market.

On June 10th, the Ethereum official announced "Ethereum is for AI" and retweeted Virtuals' "Now On Ethereum" post to warm up for the cooperation between the two parties. This news has sparked a strong reaction in the community, with over 1.1 million views as of the time of publication.

This collaboration is not just a simple partnership; it signifies the beginning of Ethereum's return to the center stage. The current Ethereum needs a strong grasp to catch up, while Virtuals accelerates development through ACP to consolidate its advantages.

The establishment of universal standards will transform each Agent from merely being a "worker" into an important node in business collaboration. This set of standards is expected to open up a massive on-chain Agent labor market.

What kind of surprises will Virtuals bring this time with the combination of ACP and EVM?

Ethereum ecosystem cools down, innovation faces challenges

Since the rise of the AI boom at the end of last year, Ethereum seems to have been absent from this feast, raising market doubts.

As a pioneer of L1, Ethereum's status is indisputable, but it has performed poorly amid the AI wave. During the last AI Agent craze, the absence of the Ethereum ecosystem shifted market attention to Solana and Base. Even during the recent rebounds of AI-related projects like Fartcoin and Virtuals, Ethereum remained marginalized until its recent collaboration with I.R.I.S sparked market anticipation.

However, Ethereum still has several potential advantages:

1. The highest TVL, nearly 8 times more than the second place. According to DefiLlama data, Ethereum's current TVL exceeds 62 billion USD, which is about 8 times that of the second place.

2. The DeFi ecosystem is the richest, with over 1300 DeFi protocols. In addition to the advantage of TVL, the DeFi protocols and gameplay on Ethereum are also the most diverse.

3. The largest number of developers. Ethereum uses the Solidity language, which is the most commonly used programming language for Web3 developers today and is also considered an entry-level language for novice developers.

These advantages provide Ethereum with ample funding, protocols, and a developer base. However, as the "world computer," Ethereum has fallen into the innovator's dilemma and urgently needs to find new breakthroughs.

In the first collaboration between Virtuals and Ethereum, the potential for success has already been demonstrated. In the long run, AI may become a key factor in revitalizing the Ethereum ecosystem.

Virtuals ACP: The Opportunity of Ethereum

Why can Virtuals' AI become a turning point for the Ethereum ecosystem? The answer lies in ACP (Agent Commerce Protocol).

ACP can be understood as the "business contract" and common language between AI agents, specifying how to initiate cooperation, negotiate terms, complete transactions, and evaluate results.

ACP has the following characteristics:

1. Cross-chain collaboration: As long as the ACP rules are followed, agents on different chains can collaborate seamlessly.
2. Framework Independence: ACP does not rely on a specific AI framework, and any agent can participate.
3. Four-stage process: Request, Negotiation, Transaction, Evaluation, with each step recorded and executed through smart contracts.

These features will bring a qualitative leap to Virtuals and its AI ecosystem.

ACP brings two major qualitative changes to Virtuals

1. Multi-chain ecosystem formation

ACP not only connects multiple Agents but also connects Agents distributed across different chains. Whether it's Agents on Base, Solana, or the Ethereum mainnet, they can achieve cross-chain collaboration through ACP. The role of ACP is similar to Cosmos's IBC, providing underlying interoperability for all Agents.

2. Multi-framework collaboration

ACP does not rely on specific AI frameworks; whether it is GAME, ElizaOS, or other frameworks, interoperability is possible. This means that agents from different frameworks can share the benefits of the AI Agent era. For developers, integrating ACP may become an essential skill, just as Web3 developers commonly master the ERC standards.

Virtuals定位

With the development of GAME as a framework and ACP as a protocol, the positioning of Virtuals is also continuously evolving. It may surpass the traditional definition of Layer 1:

• GAME and ACP are developed by Virtuals and can quickly connect to the Virtuals ecosystem.
• Agents from different chains can launch through Virtuals.
• Users participating in the Virtuals ecosystem token staking, including $VIRTUAL, have the chance to receive ecological airdrops.
• Staking a sufficient proportion of $VIRTUAL allows participation in governance.

Virtuals is evolving from "project token" to "whole ecosystem mother coin". In the future, Virtuals may become the exclusive Layer 1 for AI Agents, namely the Virtuals Protocol.

ACP: Opening the Trillion-Dollar Economy of Web3 AI

The Virtuals ecosystem already includes 11 major categories such as life, DeFAI, prediction markets, infrastructure, games, and more than 100 Agents. Unlike Web2, Web3's AI Agents grow on the chain, and the recently focused stablecoins will further promote the development of the on-chain economy.

As more assets are issued on the chain, regardless of asset type or scale, it will provide "acceleration" for on-chain AI. For example, AIXVC can collaborate with multiple Agents to provide users with diverse earning opportunities. If AIXVC can trade and manage more Web2 assets directly on the chain, it will accelerate the integration of the Virtuals ecosystem into Web2.

Jae-Sonn, the head of ACP, stated that ACP is a product that drives a trillion-dollar economy. Ethereum turns code into currency, while ACP will transform Agents into a trillion-dollar workforce. Hundreds of millions of on-chain Agents will provide services, trade, and collaborate without permission. ACP can be seen as the underlying infrastructure that allows AI Agents to operate on a large-scale payment track without leaving the blockchain.

If you missed the moment when Uniswap defined the basic rules of DeFi and also missed the NFT boom triggered by OpenSea, this time, Virtuals will carry ACP to write the prologue of new business logic in AI.

The trillion-dollar economy door of Web3 AI is here, ACP!