AI agents were just going mainstream when AI Rollup co-hosts @trustlessstate and @cryptopunk7213 shared their top picks in the emerging field.

Since then, some tokens soared to record highs, while others struggled or collapsed — let's dig in 👇

~~~ Op-Ed by @jackinabinet ~~~

📊 @virtuals_io | $VIRTUAL

Virtuals is a platform for launching tokenized AI agents on the Base network. By purchasing agent tokens, like LUNA and $VADER, users on the Virtuals platform gain governance rights over specific agents, enabling them to influence their development and potentially share in resulting profits.

What’s Changed?

Protocol fee revenues dropped mid-December as users took a holiday break, but agent-associated token trading surged around the new year. Virtuals now collects over $1 million daily in fees but earns 50% less than early December.

Since our last review, Virtuals' token value has more than doubled, boasting a $4.6B market cap. The $VIRTUAL token price disregarded stagnating fundamentals and continued its sharp rise from late November.

👨‍🦲 @ai16zdao | $AI16Z

Launched in October 2024, $ai16z is an investment DAO run by @pmairca, an AI modeled after Marc Andreessen. It uses AI and crowd wisdom to buy tokens. Holders with enough $AI16Z tokens can propose investment ideas to AI Marc, influencing his choices. The bot gauges the trustworthiness of these proposals through a "$Virtual Marketplace of Trust."

What’s Changed?

The $AI16Z token was absolutely sent during December and rallied over 500% in the closing month of 2024 to establish itself as a preeminent agentic token play.

In a governance forum post, $ai16z contributors consider creating their own agent token launchpad as a hub for innovation on the Eliza framework. They believe this could advance agent bot swarms and multichain integrations. AI Marc still lacks its promised trading feature, but $ai16z FAQs state that onchain trading will be available "shortly" after the testnet, which is set to start "soon" for "a couple of weeks."

⚔️ @Vader_AI_ | $VADER

VaderAI is an AI bot developed to post and engage on social media autonomously. As an “agentic KOL,” it analyzes data to spot trends and audience sentiment. Claimed as the first to trade AI agent coins autonomously, VaderAI aims to lead as an investment DAO manager. By leveraging a network of specialist agents, it seeks to deliver top investment results, receiving a 20% carry on subDAO investments for its service.

What’s Changed?

VaderAI's first agent-managed investment DAO made a 50k $VIRTUAL deposit within 30 seconds of its December 20 launch, sparking a $VADER token rally from local lows. Though details on its machine learning use are scant, the team notes that their vaults receive preferential investment terms from other projects, and DAO members approve all decisions.

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🔗 Catch up on how others have performed and why in the full article here: https://t.co/i1ToTlvEls