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.
Chuyên sâu báo cáo Web3Author: TechFlow
While we’re still debating whether agents can manage communities or work part-time jobs, Virtuals has already set its sights on 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 retweeted Virtuals’ “Now On Ethereum” post, signaling the start of their collaboration. The announcement quickly sparked strong community interest, amassing over 1.1 million views by the time of publication.
This is not just another partnership — it marks the beginning of Ethereum reclaiming center stage.
Today, Ethereum needs a solid foothold to catch up; meanwhile, Virtuals will accelerate its growth through ACP and further consolidate its lead.
One universal standard that ensures every agent is no longer just a "worker";
One universal standard that allows every agent to become a node in commercial collaboration;
One universal standard that unlocks a trillion-dollar on-chain agent labor market.
ACP X EVM — what surprise will Virtuals bring us this time?
Ethereum’s ecosystem frozen: The world computer trapped in the innovator's dilemma
Since the AI wave began late last year, Ethereum has seemingly been absent from the entire boom, drawing increasing skepticism from the market.
Ethereum’s status as a pioneering L1 is unquestionable, yet it showed no presence during the AI surge. While the previous wave of AI agent activity shifted attention to Solana and Base, Ethereum remained sidelined — even when AI-related projects like Fartcoin and Virtuals rebounded in recent months,until the recent collaboration with I.R.I.S reignited market expectations.
What will be the next compelling narrative for Ethereum’s ecosystem?
An undeniable fact remains: Ethereum still holds immense latent potential:
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First in TVL, nearly 8x larger than second place: The vast majority of assets remain on Ethereum. According to DefiLlama, Ethereum’s TVL exceeds $62 billion — about eight times that of Solana, the current second-largest chain.
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Richest DeFi ecosystem, hosting over 1,300 DeFi protocols: Beyond TVL dominance, Ethereum also leads in protocol diversity and innovation. DefiLlama reports over 1,300 DeFi protocols on Ethereum — more than any other ecosystem.
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Largest developer base in the ecosystem: Another natural advantage of Ethereum lies in Solidity, the most widely used programming language among Web3 developers today. Whether Layer1 or Layer2, Solidity is often considered the entry-level language for new developers.
TVL brings capital;
Protocols and developers enable capital circulation.
All of this proves Ethereum lacks neither foundation nor resources — only a catalyst.
When the largest world computer falls into the innovator’s dilemma, it must find a new breakthrough point.
The initial collaboration between Virtuals and Ethereum has already demonstrated feasibility. In the long run, AI could become the long-awaited rain after a drought for Ethereum’s ecosystem.
Virtuals ACP: The long-awaited rain for Ethereum
AI may be the much-needed relief for Ethereum’s ecosystem — but why Virtuals’ AI in particular?
The answer lies in ACP: 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 the following key characteristics:
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Cross-chain collaboration: Regardless of which blockchain an agent operates on, as long as it follows ACP rules, seamless collaboration becomes possible.
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Framework agnosticism: ACP does not rely 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 now the strategic focus for Virtuals? Because these features promise transformative upgrades for both Virtuals and its flourishing AI empire.
Two transformative impacts ACP brings to Virtuals
Familiar observers of the Virtuals ecosystem know that ACP unites all AI agents, and official case studies have already been shared. But if you think ACP merely enables collaboration from single to multiple agents, you're underestimating its significance.
In our view, ACP brings two qualitative transformations to Virtuals:
Transformation One: Formation of a multi-chain ecosystem — "ACP is like Cosmos' IBC"
Virtuals originated in the Base ecosystem, expanded into Solana, and is now entering Ethereum mainnet. But ACP doesn’t just link multiple agents — it connects agents scattered across multiple blockchains.
This means whether you’re on Base, Solana, Ethereum, or any future chain,
agents can directly collaborate across chains.
Axelrod manages your Solana assets;
Hyper provides metaverse space 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 it’s GAME, ElizaOS, or others — while the extent of support remains to be seen, the official vision clearly includes cross-framework agent interoperability.
We know GAME is Virtuals’ flagship framework, but Web3 AI still hosts various other frameworks — including custom-built ones by developers.
By enabling multi-framework synergy, ACP ensures agents built on different frameworks can all benefit from the AI agent era.
For developers, integrating with ACP isn’t just attractive — it’s becoming essential.
Just as Web3 developers commonly issue tokens using ERC standards,
adopting ACP will soon become a standard skill for AI agent developers.
ACP is the protocol, GAME is the framework — so what exactly is Virtuals?
Can Virtuals be seen as a Layer1?
Recalling my interview last year with Weekee, co-founder of Virtuals (see Interview with Virtuals Protocol Co-Founder), he stated: “Virtuals is a Layer1 — it should be viewed and valued as such.”
We are now one step closer to that reality — and perhaps, in time, Virtuals will transcend even the definition of Layer1.
GAME is a framework that empowers developers;
ACP is a protocol that integrates disparate ecosystems.
But Virtuals itself defies easy categorization.
GAME and ACP are developed by Virtuals and seamlessly plug into its broader ecosystem;
Agents across different chains can launch via Virtuals;
Users stake tokens within the Virtuals ecosystem, including $VIRTUAL, gaining eligibility for ecosystem airdrops;
Staking a sufficient amount of $VIRTUAL grants governance rights.
Those familiar with the last cycle will remember Cosmos. Its contribution to Web3 was primarily technological — many new projects adopted Cosmos SDK, such as Dymension, Celestia, and dYdX.
Yet Cosmos has long been criticized for supporting numerous ecosystems while failing to capture value for its native token $ATOM. Here, $VIRTUAL appears to offer a significant improvement, evolving from a project token toward becoming the “ecosystem base currency.”
If AI frameworks are considered the foundational infrastructure for agents,
then Virtuals now occupies a position potentially even more critical than a framework.
Could there be a Layer1 dedicated to AI Agents?
Virtuals Protocol.
Beachhead secured, stablecoins accelerating — ACP opens the trillion-dollar economy of Web3 AI
How is the Virtuals agent city-state progressing?
According to @gkisokay’s ecosystem map, the Virtuals ecosystem now spans 11 major categories — including lifestyle, DeFAI, prediction markets, infra, and gaming — with over 100 agents launched.
Unlike Web2, Web3 AI agents are born on-chain.
And 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’ official ACP documentation, one example shows AIXVC collaborating with multiple agents to deliver diverse yield opportunities to users.
That scenario didn’t yet include the economic boom driven by stablecoins.
What if AIXVC could directly trade and manage more Web2 assets on-chain?
This would accelerate Virtuals’ integration into Web2, and the AI Nation of Virtuals is rapidly taking shape.
Jae-Sonn (@zer0xdawn), ACP Lead, told us in an interview: “ACP is a product designed to drive 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 serves as the foundational layer enabling agents to “click send” on payment rails at Stripe’s scale, without ever leaving the blockchain. This isn’t speculation — we are formally writing this into EVM and the broader ecosystem today.
If you missed Uniswap codifying 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 economy of Web3 AI is here — ACP has arrived!
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