AI tokens ringing in new year

AI agents are models tasked with specific missions, such as creating coins and promoting them on social media. Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) has become the place to build and launch tokenized AI agents. It's all part of crypto's latest meta narrative.

We'll do the math.

VIRTUAL, which is is now CoinGecko's 40th-largest token, has a total market capitalization of $4.2 billion. Yesterday, VIRTUAL hit an all-time high above $5 following a meteoric month up 155% after a year-long sky-ride up more than 35,000%.

When examining the returns of the largest digital assets based on market cap, VIRTUAL proved to be the single-biggest gainer of 2024, per CoinGecko. As of Christmas Day, VIRTUAL had rocketed up 23,000%, or 172x Bitcoin.

“Chatbots can replace a lot of influencers because they never sleep," said Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, a VC firm, explaining the big picture potential. "Plus, they're always on-message and they’re less greedy than human influencers." (Decrypt).

Meanwhile, Truth Terminal, an AI chatbot with an X account and a Solana wallet, is "turning into an augmented reality game for degens," Blockworks said.

CoinGecko has a category, Terminal of Truths, referring to tokens, such as GOAT, mentioned by Truth Terminal. It's a group of a dozen mostly micro-cap coins. The category has gained 29% in the past day

Another one of the top-performing coins of 2024 was Brett (BRETT), a meme token inspired by a carefree anthropomorphic character from the Boy's Club comics, and who is also now the blue face of Base, the Ethereum L2 blockchain on which BRETT runs. Launched in February, BRETT gained roughly 15,000% to close out the year, according to CoinGecko. BRETT's ATH of $0.234 came on Dec. 1. As of this morning, Friday, Jan. 3, BRETT was $0.13. 

While BRETT has surrendered one-third of its value, it still claims a spot in the ranks of CoinGecko's 100 biggest coins. Actually, BRETT briefly fell out of the Top 100 earlier this morning with a 1.5% loss in 24 hours. Still, BRETT has gained about 5% in the past week and seems inclined to make a stab at $0.14.

A silly, flatuence-based token (with a transaction mechanism that produces a digital fart noise) is brazenly climbing the ladder of big-cap legitimacy.

Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) has a market cap of $1.3B, making it the 96th-largest coin, per CoinGecko. It has spiked nearly 500% in the past month. Yesterday, FARTCOIN reached a record high of $1.45. As of this morning, it was closer to $1.40. But on Thursday, no other memecoin in the Top 100 could claim a one-day return anywhere near FARTCOIN's. At one point, it was up 47% in 24 hours, per Decrypt. FARTCOIN also happens to be the biggest coin in the Truth Terminal cadre also comprising GOAT and ten tiny-cap coins with absurd names.

Speaking of absurd names, Kekius Maximus (KEKIUS), a memecoin touted up heavily out of the blue by Elon Musk, soared across the crypto skyscape in comet-like fashion the other day as it went from a small fraction of a penny to a full forty cents but then dumped; and yet it still now claims a market cap of $160M, making it the 440th-largest token. As of today, KEKIUS sits at roughly $0.16, having gained 22% in 24 hours. It's a meme connected with techspeak for "lol" amalgamated with a character from"Gladiator."

Stalwart memecoin movers from the past year include Popcat, Mog Coin, Turbo and Pepe.

Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo from Thailand, was the inspiration for a popular '24 meme conveying joy and environmental awareness, and it, in turn, birthed one of last year's most popular memecoins, MOODENG; or at least it used to be popular. MOODENG hit its ATH of $0.0004208 back in late November but has since plunged by 60%. It continues to wallow but still has a market cap of $68M, putting MOODENG at No. 731 on the CoinGecko list.

As far as memorable (but also forgettable) memes of 2024, we recall game streamer Hailey Welch, a.k.a. "the Hawk Tuah girl," unapologetically deploying a filthy onomatopoeia of a phrase in a viral video that led to overnight celebrity online and the creation of a Hawk Tuah coin that ultimately resulted in the 22-year-old being accused of abetting a pump and dump.

Cat-themed memecoins (POPCAT and MOG, among others) rocketed last year (POPCAT gained 10,000%) and already this year, inexplicably and yet not surprisingly, there is yet another one on the rise. This time it's Bongo Cat (BONGO), up 54% in 24 hours to reach about a nickel. BONGO has a market cap of $44M, making it the 942nd-largest coin, per CoinGecko. 

Bongo Cat, per CoinMarketCap, is an "iconic, globally recognized character known for its playful bongo-drumming antics."