Author: Nancy, PANews
Since the popular MEME coins such as GOAT, ACT and LUNA successfully warmed up the market, the AI Agent trend is accelerating from the technology circle to the crypto market. Gold diggers from all walks of life are flocking in, and the scene is very lively.
According to Coingecko data, as of December 6, the total market value of AI Agent tokens has exceeded $10.2 billion, accounting for about one-fifth of the total market value of the encrypted AI track. Virtuals Protocol is a star project in this trend. It is an AI Agent issuance platform for games and entertainment launched on Base in January this year. The market value of its token VIRTUAL has soared from tens of millions of dollars to more than $1.8 billion today in just over two months.
Recently, PANews conducted an exclusive interview with Wee Kee, co-founder of Virtuals Protocol, to explore his entrepreneurial journey, product planning, and insights on the development trends of AI Agents.
Transitioning from a gaming guild to an AI Agent platform, the price of the token once fell by 99% during a low point.
In this halving cycle, Bitcoin's price broke through the 100,000 dollar mark, and believers once again welcomed a victory in a new phase. The halving event is an important footnote in Bitcoin's development history, reshaping market perceptions deeply and pushing the industry to continuously leap forward.
In 2016, it was the second halving of Bitcoin and also the year when Wee Kee stepped into the world of cryptocurrency. That year, Wee Kee studied at Imperial College London and began purchasing Bitcoin and Ethereum. This top global technology institution was also one of the early adopters of Bitcoin. However, after graduating in 2017, Wee Kee did not immediately dive into the crypto industry, but chose to work at traditional well-known companies like Boston Consulting Group.
As time flowed to 2021, the explosion of the blockchain gaming track attracted attention from both within and outside the circle, and it was at this time that Wee Kee co-founded the gaming guild PathDAO, which is also the predecessor of Virtuals, successfully raising 16 million dollars at a valuation of 600 million dollars. However, the road of entrepreneurship is always winding and deep; as the blockchain gaming track nearly fell silent, PathDAO also encountered severe tests, with token prices plummeting by 99%, reaching a minimum market value of only 6 million dollars. Subsequently, PathDAO began to explore multiple business lines, including project incubation, social networking app development, NFT-integrated clothing sales, and game production, but the market did not respond favorably, which greatly impacted the team.
"The decline in token prices and the lack of market recognition for products have a huge impact on team morale, but as a founder, even if I feel very lost inside, I still must inspire the team's morale." Wee Kee admitted in an interview that at many critical moments, founders need to exhibit a kind of irrational optimism.
In 2023, ChatGPT led AI technology to sweep the globe, showcasing immense 'money' potential, prompting countless entrepreneurs to take action, and Wee Kee also immersed himself in this field, transforming into the current AI Agent platform. Currently, the Virtuals team has expanded to about 20 people, mainly located in Malaysia, and also includes members from London, Singapore, and other locations.
The Japanese virtual YouTuber Vtuber is the inspiration behind the launch of Virtuals. "If these virtual idols combine with AI, can we further explore efficiency value, does it mean there will be more profit potential?"
In Wee Kee's view, the advantage of combining crypto with AI Agents lies in the innovative model of revenue sharing, allowing users worldwide to participate in the operation of AI Agents and profit through investment in specific cryptocurrencies, especially for groups that find it difficult to have traditional bank accounts, which can participate through crypto wallets. Under such a framework, AI Agents can achieve value flow globally, and once profitable, they will bring considerable returns to investors. At the same time, AI Agents can have their own crypto wallets, which brings them immense potential and innovation, such as allowing each AI Agent to focus on their areas of expertise while collaborating with other AI Agents to earn profits and create more possibilities.
From the flagship AI virtual idol LUNA of Virtuals, this AI Agent token with over 500,000 fans on TikTok has a market value exceeding 66 million dollars, and its market exploration model has been recognized by the market.
Benchmarking against the AI model market Bittensor, it is not the AI Agent version of Pump.Fun.
The success of Virtuals is due not only to the courage of a decisive transformation and deep insights into the AI market but also to the right timing, geographical advantages, and harmonious collaboration.
Regarding timing, in the past two months, with the value leap of MEME coins like GOAT and ACT, the market's focus has gradually shifted to the AI Agent track, with unprecedented market enthusiasm. The rise of this trend has also enabled platforms like Virtuals to gradually enter the public eye, attracting more attention and investment.
However, the market attention shift caused by price fluctuations is also a challenge that cannot be ignored. "The MEME market rotates very quickly, but the core focus of the Virtuals community is not limited to MEME; rather, it is focused on the practical applicability of the AI Agents created. Even in the face of price fluctuations, there are still users willing to pay for these valuable Agents, which guarantees the stability of its ecosystem.
In terms of public chain selection, Base provides a unique 'geographical' advantage for the development of Virtuals. At the beginning of 2024, Virtuals decided to build on Base, which was still in its early stages at that time. Wee Kee shared several important reasons for choosing Base in an interview: first, Base was the only public chain backed by the US-listed company Coinbase at that time, and after Trump's election as President of the United States, it provided greater development space for crypto in the US; second, Base did not issue its own tokens, which offered greater flexibility for the token empowerment of the Virtuals protocol; furthermore, although Base currently underperforms compared to Solana in terms of TVL and daily active users, the competition in Solana is already quite fierce, whereas Base has greater growth potential. Additionally, Wee Kee emphasized that Base pays great attention to builder culture, which is more likely to attract technology teams like AI to join, and Base's official team also provided technical and marketing support for Virtuals. He also revealed to PANews that Base still has considerable room for construction, currently has no multi-chain deployment plans, but does not rule out this possibility in the future.
The transition of the Virtuals product from a 'testing ground' to a vast commercial 'field' fully demonstrates the high recognition of its product. Due to its innovative application of token issuance in the deployment of AI Agents, Virtuals was once considered by the market as the AI Agent version of Pump.Fun, but Wee Kee does not agree with this view; he stated that the core KPI of Virtuals is not about having more token issuance but attracting quality teams to participate.
In Wee Kee's view, from the perspective of community members, they hope to find an excellent project and enter at a reasonable price to achieve value discovery. If the market is filled with frequent hot spot changes and chasing, it will bring enormous psychological pressure to community members. Therefore, Virtuals focuses more on how to attract and support excellent AI teams, emphasizing the construction of long-term value and stable ecological development, rather than simply chasing short-term market hot spots. In a sense, Virtuals' competitors lean more towards the AI model market Bittensor.
At the same time, Wee Kee also revealed that Virtuals is about to launch a new product called 'Agent Society.' According to his description, in this concept, each AI Agent has its own wallet and unique expertise; they promote value exchange through transactions and collaboration, forming a self-operating economic cycle.
To enhance community activity and developer participation, Virtuals has also introduced the LaunchPad platform Agentstarter, providing creators with an efficient and fair way to bring new AI Agents into its ecosystem. Currently, Virtuals is focusing on two important development directions: first, finding excellent AI teams to incubate more AI Agents with billion-dollar valuation potential; second, planning to attract top global AI teams to join the Virtuals ecosystem in cities like Hong Kong, Paris, and New York next year.
At the end of the interview, for entrepreneurs and practitioners in the AI Agent field, Wee Kee shared some valuable experiences and advice: first, clearly define the target user group for AI. Taking Virtuals as an example, it provides services to other AI Agents by directly observing user needs in the Agent ecosystem, thereby enhancing its own visibility because these users will actively explore and use the Agents you develop; secondly, strengthen communication with more crypto teams to gain deeper insights into the culture and dynamics within the circle, thereby better integrating into the ecosystem and capturing more growth opportunities.
