Virtuals Protocol became the top-performing coin of the month and week, with gains of nearly 195% and 150%, respectively
Virtuals Protocol’s market cap surged 156.29% in April, crossing the $1 billion mark
Daily active wallets on Base Network dropped 84.9% from January highs, & Solana saw a 79.3% decline, showing reduced user activity despite price gains.
The RSI hit 84.75 and MACD shows a bullish crossover, as traders eye $2.00–$2.20 as a key zone for potential correction or breakout.
DEX volume rose 683% in two weeks to $27.6M but remains 89.7% below January’s peak of $267.5M, reflecting low market depth.
Virtual Protocol, $VIRTUAL coin is trading at $1.73, with a market cap of $1.13B and a 24-hour trading volume of $652.85M, reflecting a 32.66% increase in price and a 98.70% surge in volume.
From Hype to Hold: Virtual Agent Creation Hits a Plateau After Early Surge
Looking at the “AI Agents Created (Cumulative)” chart, we can see that demand for creating AI agents in the Virtual Ecosystem has cooled off over time. After a rapid spike from 68 agents in October to 16K agents by mid-January — a rise within just 3 months — the numbers have since plateaued, holding steady between 16K and 17,695 agents for the past 4 months.
This indicates that while there was an initial FOMO-driven rush, possibly fueled by hype or speculation, the market has now settled into a consolidation phase.
Virtual Protocol Sees Sharp Drop in Daily Active Wallets Despite Expansion to Solana
Virtuals Protocol, has seen a steep decline in user engagement, measured by daily active wallets (DAWs), despite expanding from Coinbase’s Base chain to Solana.
On January 2, 2025, the protocol recorded its peak activity with 58,641 DAWs on Base and 2,562 on Solana, totaling 58,641. However, by April 20, DAWs had dropped over 61% to 22,315 on Base and 241 on Solana—totalling 22,556, Making it a two-month high.
The decline continued through April 30, with DAWs falling to just 8,328 on Base and 529 on Solana, amounting to 8,857 users—a sharp 84.9% drop from the January peak.
Virtuals Protocol Sees 200% Price Jump, But DEX Volume Remains Weak
Despite a 200% price rally over the past two weeks, Virtuals Protocol’s trading volume on decentralized exchanges shows only a modest recovery.
On April 16, 2025, total DEX volume was $3.52 million — $3.29M on Base and $229K on Solana. Two weeks later, on April 29, volume rose to $27.6 million, with $26.4M on Base and $1.17M on Solana.
While this marks a 683% jump in volume, it’s still nearly 90% lower than the January peak of $267.5 million — signaling weak market participation despite the price hype.
Parabolic Surge in VIRTUALUSD Nearing Exhaustion: Key Profit Zone Ahead for Crypto Traders
Looking at the VIRTUALUSD chart and its on-chain behaviour, the asset is displaying a classic parabolic curve structure, with three completed bases fueling a sharp vertical rally. This began around April 10, breaking Base 1 ($0.60), Base 2 ($1.10), and Base 3 (~$1.40) to reach a high of $1.97 by May 1. This aggressive upside suggests the market is entering the Final pump, where $2.00–$2.20 is the projected Sell Point.
This Sell Point is a crucial level to watch—not only due to technical exhaustion, but because RSI is now extremely overbought at 84.75, signalling that price may soon reverse or consolidate. Additionally, the MACD continues to show a strong bullish crossover with widening histogram bars, confirming momentum, but the angle is steep, indicating a possible cooldown ahead.
If the parabolic rally sustains, VIRTUALUSD could reach its previous high of $2.60 by MAy 1st week. However, a failure to break $2.20 could trigger a healthy retracement to support levels at $1.40 and $1.10. Traders should monitor volume and momentum closely while managing profit-taking strategies near the peak zone.
Since its launch in late March, World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin USD1 has achieved an impressive market capitalization, reflecting strong investor interest. If the creators want to maximize USD1’s reach by accessing markets abroad, particularly in Europe, they must confront MiCA’s extensive compliance list.
In a BeInCrypto interview, experts from Foresight Ventures, Kaiko, and Brickken stressed the importance of stablecoin issuers having substantial European bank reserves, operational volume caps protecting the euro, and transparent USD1 information to ensure transparency and avoid conflicts of interest.
USD1’s Search for Dollar Dominance
World Liberty Financial (WLF), a decentralized finance (DeFi) project heavily associated with the Trump family, officially launched USD1 a month ago. Through this stablecoin, WLF aims to promote dollar dominance worldwide.
So far, this initiative has been working well for WLF. According to CoinGecko, USD1 has now surpassed a market capitalization of $128 million and reached a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $41.6 million. The project has already released 100% of its total supply of 127,971,165 tokens.
USD1’s market capitalization over the past 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko.
For WLF to seriously establish dollar dominance across the globe, it will have to move fast and efficiently. This urgency stems from the need to surpass its main competitors, USDT and USDC. These rivals currently hold a massive market share advantage.
Additionally, there’s a need to maintain a competitive advantage against established currencies like the euro.
USD1 needs to access foreign markets and stand out from established competitors to achieve this. Should Europe become a primary target, USD1 must prepare to tackle numerous challenges head-on.
The EU’s Stringent Compliance Demands
The European Union (EU) became the first jurisdiction in the world to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets across its 27 member states. This regulation, known as Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), has been in effect for nearly four months. Through this legislation, the EU has confirmed how seriously it takes compliance with a defined regulatory regime.
The regulation is detailed and clear, leaving no room for interpretation. If USD1 wants to operate in this crypto market of 31 million users, it must ensure it meets every demand.
US Senators Flag Risks of Presidential Involvement in USD1
In the letter, the group asked both agencies to clarify how they plan to uphold regulatory integrity following the issuance of USD1.
The Senators cautioned that letting a president personally benefit from a digital currency overseen by federal agencies he has sway over is a big risk to the financial system. They argued that an unprecedented situation like this one could hurt people’s trust in how regulations are made.
“The launch of a stablecoin directly tied to a sitting President who stands to benefit financially from the stablecoin’s success presents unprecedented risks to our financial system,” they argued.
The letter further detailed situations where Trump could directly or indirectly affect decisions regarding USD1.
As things stand, USD1 isn’t well-prepared to follow MiCA’s strict reporting and transparency rules.
How Do Concerns Over USD1 Impact MiCA Acquisition?
According to Ianeva-Aubert, if USD1 doesn’t clear up doubts over potential conflicts of interest, this would affect its ability to apply for an operating license in the European Union.
“MiCA requires strong governance, including independent directors and clear separation between owners and managers. Issuers must have clear rules to handle conflicts of interest. If USD1 has any conflicts, this could make it harder to comply,” she said.
Ianeva-Aubert also highlighted that WLF still hasn’t released enough public information on USD1 to assess the degree of its compliance effectively. In particular, the stablecoin issuer has not disclosed the measures it would take to safeguard against market manipulation.
As of now, USD1 would likely fail MiCA’s transparency tests. However, industry experts pointed out other parts of the framework that might be even larger obstacles for USD1 to operate across the European Union.
Impact of the EU’s Reserve Mandate on USD1
When asked about the biggest regulatory hurdles USD1 would face in securing a MiCA license, experts’ responses were unanimous. The stablecoin would need to store a large portion of its reserves in a European bank.
This mandate has proven difficult for established stablecoin issuers seeking operations across the region.
This regulation aims to ensure seamless accessibility for European crypto users and traders. For Forest Bai, Co-founder of Foresight Ventures, USD1 could capitalize on this opportunity during the early stages of its development. By doing so, it could avoid some of the obstacles its competitors had to endure.
Yet, even as USD1 scales and its demand grows, other mandatory requirements could restrict its scope of success.
MiCA’s Transaction Volume Caps to Preserve Euro Dominance
As part of the MiCA regulation, the European Union has taken specific measures to safeguard the euro’s dominance. If a digital currency not denominated in euros were to become extensively adopted for daily payments within Europe, it could present a potential risk to the European Union’s financial sovereignty and the stability of the euro.
To contain this possibility, MiCA places volume caps on transactions used as a means of exchange within the EU.
In other words, MiCA establishes predefined limits on the transactional volume of such currencies. The EU initiates regulatory measures when these limits are exceeded due to widespread payment usage.
Specifically, USD1 issuers must suspend any further digital currency issuance and provide a remediation plan to the relevant regulator, outlining steps to ensure their usage does not negatively impact the euro.
If USD1 wants to work in places where it can experience uninhibited growth, the European market might not be the best fit for this stablecoin. Other parts of MiCA also suggest this could be the case.
MiCA Limitations to Stablecoins as Investment Vehicles
EU regulators have been clear that stablecoins, or e-money tokens (EMTs), as the regulation refers to them, are payment instruments that should not be confused with investment vehicles. The MiCA framework has a few rules in place to prevent this.
Given the circumstances, experts like Bai think WLF might want to focus on countries with better market conditions for stablecoin issuers.
Should WLF Consider the EU Market for USD1 Operations?
While the European Union has an undeniable crypto market presence, other jurisdictions have an even larger footprint.
”The EU’s crypto market remains comparatively small, with just 31 million users versus Asia’s 263 million and North America’s 38 million users, according to a report from Euronews. This limited market size may not justify MiCA compliance costs for projects, like WLFI,” Bai told BeInCrypto, adding that “Projects ultimately determine their own growth strategy. Given that, currently, the EU represents a secondary market for USD1, the project’s strategic priorities may naturally shift toward regions with less stringent stablecoin regulations to drive its adoption.”
These circumstances alone may prompt USD1 to reconsider its options.
In fact, USD1 could start by gaining a competitive edge right at home.
USD1’s Political Backing at Home
With a crypto-friendly president in office –whose very crypto project officially announced the launch of USD1– the stablecoin has sufficient backing to make its mark.
Looking past the immediate future, Bai underlined that if the US doesn’t keep developing supportive crypto regulations, USD1’s growth in the country could be held back following a government shift.
Given this reality, USD1’s failure to comply with the EU’s regulations, should it ever even consider applying for a MiCA license in the first place, could have negative consequences for the project’s long-term viability.
Regardless of the markets WLF evaluates in its efforts to increase the reach of USD1, compliance with general stipulations concerning transparency, legal architecture, and real-time transaction oversight could be conducive to its eventual success.
Arbitrum (ARB) wanted to join Nvidia’s Ignition AI Accelerator program but was reportedly turned down as part of the chipmaker’s risk control strategy.
The Layer-2 (L2) network has been strategically attempting to rebuild its reputation amid an ongoing struggle to recover from an 85% price dip.
Nvidia Turns Down Arbitrum’s Bid
Reports indicate that Arbitrum had originally planned to be the Ethereum partner in Nvidia’s Ignition AI Accelerator program. However, the L2 network was reportedly turned down at the last moment.
As it happened, the American multinational technology company prefers to avoid crypto firms for risk control purposes.
“Nvidia recently explicitly excluded cryptocurrency-related projects from its Inception program,” Wu Blockchain reported.
Indeed, when Nvidia launched its accelerator program, the firm articulated on the application page that crypto-related firms would not be eligible.
“The following types of organizations do not qualify for membership: Consulting and outsourced development firms, companies associated with cryptocurrency, cloud service providers, resellers and distributors, and public companies,” read an excerpt on the application page.
This stance presents a calculated risk to preserve the GPU giant’s AI-first brand identity. Nevertheless, some say the move could stifle innovation as artificial intelligence and decentralized systems tend to intersect.
“The recent announcement by Nvidia to exclude cryptocurrency-related projects from its Inception program raises questions about the future of collaboration between traditional tech giants and the blockchain sector,” one user shared on X (Twitter).
Arbitrum is Ethereum’s largest layer-two scaling solution, trailed by other players in the same space, including Optimism (OP). Data on L2Beats shows Arbitrum One, the optimistic rollup that inherits Ethereum’s security by posting transactions on-chain, leads L2s in TVL metrics.
While Arbitrum leads L2 scaling solutions, it remains well below its December 6, 2024, high of $1.2384. Against this backdrop, the network has been taking steps to recover.
Among them is a token buyback initiative in March to strengthen its ecosystem and absorb supply shocks due to a massive token unlock event. For a time, the initiative worked, buoying ARB price 36% before the downtrend continued, bottoming out at $0.2420 on April 7.
Nevertheless, analysts suggested more interventions with the token still over 70% below its December highs. Yogi, a well-known wallet maxi, said strategies like token buybacks lack long-term vision as they signal a slowdown in innovation.
Similarly, a Messari Crypto researcher, Patryk, suggested that Arbitrum remains flexible and deploys funds into strategic areas over time rather than committing to a rigid framework such as token buybacks.
“I think projects will do this eventually. It’s just difficult to announce a concrete plan for the funds at the beginning of buybacks, like those that Arbitrum just announced. Remain flexible,” the researcher suggested.
Accordingly, Arbitrum may have considered pivoting to Nvidia’s accelerator program for a competitive edge. Now that this plan has fallen, Aributrum faces an ARB airdrops proposal to incentivize early supporters.
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky revealed a YouTube crypto malware blackmail where attackers leverage the platform’s copyright strike system to coerce influencers into adding malicious links to their video descriptions.
These actions directed unsuspecting viewers to malware-infected downloads as YouTube content creators gave in to the blackmail.
Kaspersky Reveals SilentCryptoMiner
Kaspersky’s report reveals that hackers exploit the trust that YouTube influencers have built with their audiences, making this campaign particularly dangerous. It cites a malware campaign where cybercriminals distribute malware disguised as tools for bypassing digital restrictions.
Specifically, the hackers exploit copyright complaints, threatening and blackmailing YouTube content creators into promoting SilentCryptoMiner. SilentCryptoMiner is a sophisticated crypto-mining Trojan based on the popular open-source mining software XMRig.
According to the report, the malware mines cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Monero (XMR), and Ravencoin (RVN). It also uses the Bitcoin blockchain to maintain control over botnets.
Over the past six months, Kaspersky has detected more than 2.4 million Windows Packet Divert driver instances. Reportedly, cybercriminals leverage these to manipulate network traffic. They present many tools as legitimate software solutions but contain hidden malicious payloads.
Dynamics of Windows Packet Divert detections. Source: Kaspersky
Once installed, the malware persists on a victim’s system, bypassing security measures and modifying critical system files.
In the report, Kaspersky highlights a case in which a YouTuber with 60,000 subscribers unknowingly helped distribute the malware. The creator initially posted videos demonstrating how to bypass certain online restrictions and included a link to a supposed restriction bypass tool.
However, the file was infected with SilentCryptoMiner. Later, they edited the infected video description to remove the link, replacing it with a warning stating that the program “does not work.”
“Next, the attackers threatened the content creators under the pretext of copyright infringement, demanding that they post videos with malicious links or risk shutdown of their YouTube channels. This way, the scammers were able to manipulate the reputation of popular YouTubers to force them to post links to infected files,” read an excerpt in the report.
Use of Copyright Strikes to Coerce YouTubers
In a more insidious move, hackers have also filed false copyright claims against YouTubers who refuse to cooperate. By threatening content creators with channel takedowns, cybercriminals have forced them into distributing the malware.
Cybersecurity experts warn that YouTube and other social media platforms may not be the only targets of such blackmail schemes. Bad actors could soon deploy similar tactics on Telegram and other messaging platforms where influencers engage with their communities.
Therefore, users should remain cautious when downloading software from unverified sources. What appear to be seemingly helpful tools can serve as a gateway for malicious activities. Meanwhile, this discovery comes just a month after Kaspersky exposed another major cybersecurity threat.
“Our experts have discovered a new data-stealing Trojan, SparkCat, active in the App Store and Google Play since at least March 2024. SparkCat leverages machine learning to scan image galleries, stealing cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases, passwords, and other sensitive data hidden in screenshots,” the firm claimed.
This highlights the growing risks that cryptocurrency investors face. As YouTube influencers become prime targets for cybercriminals, blockchain intelligence platform Arkham has begun tracking their portfolios.
The new feature, dubbed “Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Label,” tracks the wallets of influencers with over 100,000 followers on X. This means investors can monitor whether influencers genuinely back the tokens they promote or if their endorsements are merely paid advertising. This highlights how influencers’ role extends beyond social media.
