Crypto whale gains $11.5M on $10M AI token bet

A crypto whale has made an $11.5 million unrealised profit from a recent investment in AI-based cryptocurrency, Virtuals Protocol (CRYPTO:VIRTUAL), within just 19 days.

According to Lookonchain, the whale spent $10 million in USDC to acquire 4.25 million VIRTUAL tokens.

As of January 2, the tokens' value surged to $21.5 million, marking an $11.5 million unrealised gain.

The VIRTUAL token, which powers the Virtuals Protocol platform, enables the creation and co-ownership of autonomous AI agents without coding knowledge.

The platform has seen increasing interest, especially with the rising trend of AI cryptocurrencies.

Since November 15, VIRTUAL token has gained significant attention, experiencing a 44% surge in a single day.

By January 2, the token hit an all-time high of $5.07, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The growth of AI agents, which perform autonomous transactions on the blockchain, has also fueled interest in such tokens.

In December 2024, Luna, an AI agent on the Virtuals Protocol, made the first autonomous blockchain transaction by seeking image-generation services from another AI agent, STIX Protocol.

After receiving the generated images, Luna paid $1.77 worth of VIRTUAL tokens to STIX Protocol’s AI agent.

The rapid rise of AI agents and blockchain autonomy has led industry watchers to predict substantial growth in AI cryptocurrencies in 2025.

"Emerging narratives like AI-driven investments, decentralised AI agents, and tokenised assets hint at a tech-driven shift, though with added risk," remarked Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet.

Despite these gains, AI-based cryptocurrencies faced challenges in late 2024, with their market capitalisation dropping over 28% from its $70 billion peak in December.