AI agent platform Virtuals Protocol has announced it will expand to the Solana ecosystem, and industry participants are saying the integration will have more impact than “most people realize.”

Being on both Solana and Base chains could help grow ecosystem participation, attract developers and users from Solana, and increase scalability while easing network congestion.

AI agent platform Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUALS) is expanding to the Solana (SOL) ecosystem in a move that some industry participants believe will have a greater impact than “most people realize.”

According to a Jan. 25 announcement, Virtuals Protocol will be integrating its AI agent platform with the Solana network. The protocol, which already has a presence on the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, will be introducing several new features on Solana.

These features include a Strategic Solana reserve, where 1% of trading fees will be converted to SOL to build a reserve to “support and reward agents” and creators within the ecosystem. Additionally, a Meteora pool will be launched to improve liquidity, and an expanded grants program will be available to support early-stage builders on Solana.

Virtuals Protocol is currently ranked as the 68th largest crypto token by market capitalization, valued at roughly $1.6 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data at the time of publication. The token’s price is trading at $2.47, showing a 1% decrease over the last 24 hours and a 35% gain in the last seven days.

Solana is known for its speed, scalability, and vibrant community, making it an ideal place for Virtuals to grow and bring our vision to life,” the announcement reads.

Solana, the ninth-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi), has been actively expanding its ecosystem throughout 2023.

In early January, Jupiter, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Solana, acquired a majority stake in Moonshot, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on early-stage Web3 projects on Solana. The acquisition is aimed at merging Moonshot's expertise in early-stage project evaluation with Jupiter's capabilities as a leading DEX on Solana.

Moreover, Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden recently announced the launch of a new NFT aggregation service called Magic Eden Aggregator. The service will allow users to browse and purchase NFTs across multiple NFT marketplaces.