Ethereum is no longer absent—Virtuals ACP opens the door to the AI trillion-dollar economy
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Ethereum is no longer absent—Virtuals ACP opens the door to the AI trillion-dollar economy
Virtuals will write the first line of code for AI's new business logic with ACP.
Web3業界の深掘り報道に専念し潮流を洞察Author: TechFlow
While we’re still debating whether Agents can handle community management or do side jobs, Virtuals has already turned its gaze toward a far grander vision — how Agents can collaborate with one another, settle transactions, and truly power an on-chain labor market for Agents.
On June 10, Ethereum officially declared “Ethereum is for AI” and shared Virtuals’ “Now On Ethereum” post, signaling the start of their collaboration. The post quickly sparked strong community reactions and interest, amassing over 1.1 million views by the time of publication.
This is not just a simple partnership — it marks the beginning of Ethereum reclaiming center stage.
Today’s Ethereum needs a solid foothold to catch up; Virtuals, in turn, will leverage ACP to accelerate growth and solidify its lead.
A universal standard that turns every Agent from a mere "worker" into;
A universal standard that enables every Agent to become a node in commercial collaboration;
A universal standard that unlocks a trillion-dollar on-chain Agent labor market.
What surprises will ACP X EVM bring us this time?
Ethereum's Ecosystem Frozen: The World Computer Faces the Innovator's Dilemma
Since the AI wave began at the end of last year, Ethereum seems to have missed the entire party, drawing growing skepticism from the market.
Ethereum’s status as a pioneer among L1s is unquestionable, yet it has remained largely absent during the AI surge. While the last wave of AI Agent activity saw attention shift to Solana and Base, Ethereum remained sidelined — even when AI-related projects like Fartcoin and Virtuals rebounded in recent months,until the recent I.R.I.S. collaboration reignited market anticipation.
What will be the next compelling narrative for Ethereum’s ecosystem?
One undeniable fact remains: Ethereum still holds immense latent potential:
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TVL #1, nearly 8x larger than second place: The majority of assets still reside on Ethereum. According to DefiLlama, Ethereum’s TVL exceeds $62 billion, roughly eight times that of Solana, the current second place.
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Richest DeFi ecosystem, with over 1,300 DeFi protocols: Beyond TVL dominance, Ethereum also leads in protocol diversity and innovation. DefiLlama reports more than 1,300 DeFi protocols built on Ethereum — more than any other ecosystem.
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Largest developer base in the Ethereum ecosystem: Ethereum enjoys a natural advantage through Solidity, the most widely used programming language among Web3 developers. Whether Layer1 or Layer2, Solidity is often considered the entry point for new developers.
TVL brings capital;
Protocols and developers enable capital circulation.
Together, these factors prove Ethereum isn’t lacking fundamentals — it’s lacking a catalyst.
When the world’s largest computer faces the innovator’s dilemma, it must find a new breakthrough point.
The initial collaboration between Virtuals and Ethereum has already demonstrated success. In the long run, AI could become the long-awaited rain after drought for Ethereum’s ecosystem.
Virtuals ACP: The Long-Awaited Rain After Drought for Ethereum
AI may be the rain after drought for Ethereum — but why specifically Virtuals’ AI?
The key lies in ACP: the Agent Commerce Protocol.
In simple terms, ACP acts as a “business contract” and common language between AI agents, defining how to initiate cooperation, negotiate terms, execute transactions, and evaluate outcomes.
It features several core characteristics:
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Cross-chain collaboration: As long as agents follow ACP rules, they can seamlessly collaborate regardless of which blockchain they operate on.
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Framework-agnostic: ACP does not depend on any specific AI framework — any agent can participate.
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Four-stage process: Request, negotiation, transaction, and evaluation — each step recorded and executed via smart contracts.
Why is ACP the strategic focus for Virtuals going forward? Because these features will drive a qualitative leap for Virtuals and its thriving AI empire.
Two Transformations Brought by ACP to Virtuals
Familiar observers of the Virtuals ecosystem know ACP will unite all AI agents, and the team has shared some early use cases. But if you think it’s merely about shifting from single-agent to multi-agent collaboration, you’re underestimating ACP.
In our view, ACP will bring two fundamental transformations to Virtuals:
Transformation One: Formation of a Multi-Chain Ecosystem — "ACP is like Cosmos' IBC"
Virtuals originated in the Base ecosystem, expanded to Solana, and is now entering Ethereum mainnet. ACP doesn’t just link multiple agents — it connects agents scattered across different blockchains.
Whether you're on Base, Solana, Ethereum, or future chains,
Agents will be able to collaborate across chains directly.
Axelrod manages your Solana assets;
Hyper provides metaverse spaces for Base-based agents;
......
Like Cosmos' IBC, ACP provides the foundational interoperability layer for all Agents.
Transformation Two: Multi-Framework Synergy — ACP as the ERC Standard for Agent Developers
ACP is independent of any specific AI framework. Whether GAME, ElizaOS, or others, while the extent of ACP support remains unclear, official descriptions suggest cross-framework agent interoperability.
GAME is Virtuals’ flagship framework, but Web3 AI still hosts various other frameworks — including custom-built ones by developers.
ACP’s multi-framework synergy ensures agents across all frameworks can benefit from the AI Agent era.
For developers, integrating with ACP will become highly attractive — even essential.
Just as Web3 developers universally understand or issue tokens using ERC standards,
integrating with ACP will become a standard capability for future AI Agent developers.
ACP Is the Protocol, GAME Is the Framework — Then What Is Virtuals?
Can Virtuals Be Seen as a Layer 1?
Recalling my interview last year with Weekee, co-founder of Virtuals (see Interview with Virtuals Protocol Co-Founder), he stated: “Virtuals is a Layer 1 — it should be valued and viewed through the lens of a Layer 1.”
We are one step closer to that reality — and may eventually surpass even the Layer 1 definition.
GAME is the framework, offering developer convenience;
ACP is the protocol, connecting diverse ecosystems.
But Virtuals itself defies easy categorization.
GAME and ACP are developed by Virtuals and allow rapid integration into the broader Virtuals ecosystem;
Agents across chains can launch via Virtuals;
Users stake Virtuals ecosystem tokens, including $VIRTUAL, gaining access to ecosystem airdrops;
Holding a sufficient amount of $VIRTUAL grants governance rights.
Those familiar with the previous cycle will recall Cosmos. Cosmos contributed significantly through its technology, powering projects like Dymension, Celestia, and dYdX. However, Cosmos was often criticized for supporting many ecosystems while its token $ATOM captured little value. In contrast, $VIRTUAL appears to have addressed this flaw, evolving from a "project token" toward becoming the "ecosystem base currency."
Frameworks are seen as the foundational infrastructure for AI Agents,
but Virtuals’ role may now be even more pivotal.
Could there be a Layer 1 dedicated to AI Agents?
Virtuals Protocol.
Beachhead Secured: Stablecoins Accelerate ACP Toward Unlocking Trillion-Dollar Web3 AI Economy
How is the Virtuals Agent city-state developing today?
According to @gkisokay’s ecosystem map, the Virtuals ecosystem now spans 11 major categories — including lifestyle, DeFAI, prediction markets, infrastructure, gaming — and hosts over 100 Agents.
Unlike Web2, Web3 AI Agents grow natively on-chain.
The recently discussed “stablecoin” narrative is poised to elevate on-chain economies to new heights.
As more assets move on-chain — both in type and volume — they will provide "acceleration" for on-chain AI.
In Virtuals’ ACP documentation, one example shows AIXVC collaborating with multiple agents to offer users diversified yield opportunities.
Yet this scenario didn’t even include the economic boom driven by stablecoins.
What if AIXVC could directly trade and manage more Web2 assets on-chain?
This would accelerate Virtuals’ deeper integration into Web2,as the Virtuals AI Nation rapidly takes shape.
Jae-Sonn (@zer0xdawn), ACP Lead, told us in an interview: “ACP is a product designed to enable a trillion-dollar economy.” Ethereum turned code into money; ACP will turn Agents into a trillion-dollar workforce. Imagine millions to billions of on-chain Agents providing services, trading, and collaborating permissionlessly — ACP is the foundation enabling Agents to hit “send” on payment rails comparable to Stripe, without ever leaving the blockchain. We aren't speculating about the future; we're writing it into EVM and the broader ecosystem today.
If you missed Uniswap establishing the basic rules of DeFi, or OpenSea igniting the NFT explosion — this time, Virtuals will write the first line of code for a new AI business logic with ACP.
The trillion-dollar door of Web3 AI is opening — ACP is here!
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