Since the beginning of the year, the Virtual (VIRTUAL) protocol, which enables users to create and own AI agents, has risen 70%. Although the story around AI agents has cooled, VIRTUAL's price rally has brought renewed attention to the project.
What factors are driving this rise and how do analysts view VIRTUAL's outlook for 2026?
Why do many analysts view Virtual positively in 2026?
The project recently introduced three new agent release models: Pegasus, Unicorn, and Titan.
This move is a particularly bold innovation. Virtual abandoned a single unified token launch model and replaced it with different models tailored to specific use cases.
These models optimize the development and adoption of AI agents on blockchains. Each model suits a different stage of a project's growth, from experimentation to scaling.
Pegasus (early distribution and testing): Designed for builders who want to launch quickly and secure market demand.
Unicorn (trust, capital, and transparency): Built for builders seeking funding while maintaining transparency.
Titan (large team launches): Intended for projects that already have existing products, support, or proper adoption.
This launch model gives investors more reasons to maintain confidence in VIRTUAL. The token's value previously dropped by over 75% at its lowest point.
The recovery is also supported by Virtuals Ventures' strategic investment in PredictBase.
The partnership offers significant opportunities for VIRTUAL's AI agents to interact with PredictBase. Use cases include participating in forecasts, automated trading strategies, and liquidity optimization.
The development is particularly significant, as experts predict that the prediction market will grow rapidly in 2026.
The long-term growth of VIRTUAL may also be driven by the x402 trend. x402 is a developing micropayment protocol that emerged towards the end of last year.
According to Layergg's analysis, X's x402 is closely tied to the era of AI agents. The protocol enables small, autonomous payments for services such as purchases, market forecasts, and even robotics.
VIRTUAL plays a key role in this phenomenon. The project serves both as a launchpad for AI agents and as a platform supporting x402 payments.
'Launchpads moved like a leveraged beta. AI agents are awakening again. x402 is still in its early stages, but demand is clearly there,' analyst 0xJeff said.
VIRTUAL's recovery is not an isolated case. It is part of a broader rebound in AI tokens. For example, Render (RENDER) has risen 80% in seven days, while Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) rose over 45% during the same period.
Private investors appear to be focusing on the AI sector at the beginning of 2026.
On-chain data still does not indicate clear improvement
Although expectations are high, the outlook remains speculative. There has been no new wave of new token creation on the platform linked to VIRTUAL's price recovery.
According to Dune Analytics and other sources, only a few tokens are launched daily at the beginning of 2026. Only 1 or 2 tokens are launched daily.
Tokens launched on the platform have not yet achieved the same visibility or appeal as some meme coins on Pump.fun.
The amount invested in VIRTUAL has also decreased from over 40 million since last year's midpoint to the current 25.8 million.
VIRTUAL's investment enables earning rewards through active participation in ecosystem activities. However, there are no signs of recovery in investment levels.
Without a strong recovery in demand, VIRTUAL's price rally may be difficult to sustain over the long term. In that case, optimistic forecasts would remain largely at the hype level.