Virtuals Protocol, an AI agent platform, has experienced a staggering decline in daily revenue. The revenue plummeted from $1.58 million on January 2 to just $21,927 by January 21.
This sharp drop of almost 99% has raised eyebrows in the crypto community, and speculation is mounting about its underlying causes.
Is Meme Coin Mania to Blame for Virtuals Revenue Drop?
According to data from Dune Analytics, Virtual Protocol’s daily trading revenue has dropped since hitting a peak on January 2.
Daily Trading Revenue Chart of Virtuals Protocol. Source: Dune
One significant factor behind the revenue decline appears to be the rise of meme coins, particularly the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens. They have dominated the market’s spotlight over the past week.
As these tokens gained traction, they drained liquidity from other sectors, including AI agent markets. This even led to a 10% decrease in the market capitalization of AI tokens on January 20.
The surge in popularity of TRUMP and MELANIA coins, heavily driven by social media buzz, has caused a shift in investor focus. As new meme coins began to gain ground, capital was reallocated to chase the hype surrounding these tokens.
Additionally, an X (Twitter) user weighed in on the situation, suggesting that the sudden drop in Virtuals Protocol’s revenue could be attributed to “dilution of value.” They pointed out that with many projects launching in such a short span of time, attention was spread too thin.
“Do you think it’s a dilution of value because so many people/projects/things were launched in such a small timeframe? The biggest value driver is attention, but if it’s spread so thin across too many things… nothing gets enough attention to matter,” they tweeted.
The theory makes sense in the crypto market, where attention is often more powerful than the fundamentals behind a project. Also, meme coins have a tendency to eclipse more stable projects as the market focuses on the latest viral token.
Virtuals Protocol, which has attracted significant interest, now faces the challenge of recovering from the sharp loss in daily revenue. The protocol will need to regain its foothold soon. It has to either attract new users or draw back those who have been swept up in the meme coin frenzy.
