Virtuals Protocol, Aave, and Chainlink Surge as Altcoin Season Index Flashes Signs of Life

The second week of winter saw most altcoins in the top 100 by market capitalization end in the red. Only a select few, including Virtuals Protocol, Aave, and Chainlink, achieved significant gains.

Most altcoins within the top 100 by market capitalization ended the second week of winter in the red. However, a select few achieved significant gains.

The top gainer of the week was Virtuals Protocol, whose token VIRTUAL surged over 51% to $2.49. The project positions itself as a platform for virtual interactions at the intersection of artificial intelligence, the metaverse, gaming, and blockchain.

The protocol is based on the Distributed Interactive Simulation (IEEE) standard, enabling the development and monetization of various AI characters in virtual environments.

Additionally, the platform operates as a marketplace connecting AI application developers with a consumer base. The token’s rally was fueled by announcements of an upcoming decentralized AI application launch in the next few weeks.

Aave surges on upcoming V4 update

Aave, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) application on Ethereum, saw its token price jump 32% to $369 after developers announced the upcoming test launch of Aave V4 this year.

A key feature of Aave V4 is the Smart Account function, which allows users to manage multiple accounts without requiring multiple wallet addresses. The platform also aims to address fragmentation issues, functioning as a unified liquidity hub across multiple networks with the help of Chainlink’s interoperability protocol.

Chainlink rides multiple tailwinds

Chainlink rose 19% this week, surpassing $29, driven by several key developments:

Partnership with Ronin Network: Chainlink technology was selected to enable cross-chain transactions for one of the largest gaming ecosystems.

Grayscale Chainlink Trust Launch: Grayscale Investments announced the creation of a Chainlink Trust, providing institutional investors a regulated security for investing in LINK.

DeFi World Liberty Financial: Chainlink was among the cryptocurrencies purchased by Donald Trump’s DeFi platform, World Liberty Financial.

Other notable gainers

Other gainers this week included: ONDO Token (up 13% to $1.90), Bitget Token (BGB, up over 10% to $3.1), Ethena (ETHA, up 8.5% to $1.140.

These are among the few altcoins showing positive performance as the crypto market faced a challenging week.

The cryptocurrency market witnessed a notable shift as the Altcoin Season Index rose by 10 points overnight, reaching 59%. Despite the increase, the index remains below the 75-point threshold required to signal a full-fledged altcoin season.