Dramatic decrease in revenues for AI platform Virtuals by an astonishing 70 times
AI agent deployment platform Virtuals witnesses a significant drop in daily revenue and activity
Data from Dune indicates that the daily revenue of the AI agent deployment platform Virtuals has plummeted from a peak of $976,748 in early January to a mere $13,643. Since its inception on Base, Virtuals enables users to create and deploy AI agents. The platform later expanded to Solana in late January.
Simultaneously, Virtuals' native token has experienced a collapse of 89%, falling from a high of $5.15 to $0.56. Analyst Dominic John of Kronos Research attributes the downward trend in AI agent platforms to low liquidity resulting from macroeconomic pressures, unproven utility, excessive token supply, and waning interest in traditional AI.
The largest agent on Virtuals, AIXBT, accounts for nearly half of the platform's total market cap. By November 30, Virtuals had facilitated the creation of 1,365 AI agents, but activity has since decreased significantly, with only one new project launched on March 10.
Blockworks Research analyst Dan Smith notes that Virtuals made a smart move by diversifying its revenue streams, accumulating $12.1 million in cbBTC, which allows for more product iteration. However, activity and revenue on Virtuals have fallen "off a cliff," with no new agent creations recorded recently.
At its peak in early 2025, the number of active wallets engaging in daily trades on Virtuals reached 58,641. Since then, that number has more than tenfold to 5,585. The AI-driven token sector experienced a rapid rise followed by an equally sharp decline, with a peak market cap of AI-inspired tokens reaching $11 billion and daily trading volume approaching $2.5 billion in early January 2025.
Although the decline in Virtuals' revenue and activity may suggest otherwise, some experts remain optimistic about the future of AI agents in the crypto space. Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi believes that AI agents will become the dominant narrative in crypto for 2025, while Bitget CEO Gracy Chen Forecasts that the sector could grow to $60 billion. Moreover, Franklin Templeton experts have predicted an AI-driven revolution in content creation, powered by intelligent agents.
Enrichment data suggests that market volatility and speculation, price decline, market sentiment, competition, and economic and regulatory factors have contributed to the decline in revenue and activity on AI agent deployment platforms like Virtuals Protocol. While these factors have impacted Virtuals, the platform's strategic moves to diversify its revenue streams and build substantial reserves may provide a foundation for future growth.
The decline in Virtuals' revenue and activity could be attributed to the macroeconomic pressures affecting the finance industry, as well as the waning interest in traditional AI and technology. Despite this drop, some experts remain optimistic about the future growth of AI agents in the crypto space, citing potential revenue streams and the predicted AI-driven revolution in content creation.
