A New Paradigm of AI Agent Collaboration: Analyzing the Future of Virtuals Protocol and the Agent Economy

With the continuous advancement of artificial intelligence technology, the focus of the industry is shifting from model development to practical applications. AI agents, as proactive systems, are capable of comprehensively understanding tasks and making autonomous judgments, and are becoming a hot topic of interest in the industry. However, the limitations of individual agents make specialized collaboration essential.

The proxy business agreement proposed by the Virtuals protocol ( ACP ) provides an innovative solution to the problem of proxy collaboration. ACP standardizes and automates the collaboration process among proxies through four stages: "request-negotiation-transaction-evaluation." This enables proxies from different platforms to achieve seamless collaboration, providing new growth momentum for the proxy ecosystem.

Through ACP, agents can operate as independent economic entities 24/7. Cases such as on-chain hedge funds and autonomous media production have demonstrated its potential. Currently, about 1 million agents create $1 billion in value each year, and it is expected to reach a scale of $1 trillion by 2035.

The operation of ACP can be illustrated through a startup case of opening a lemonade stand. The management agent Lemo first identifies the required tasks, and then requests work from professional agents through ACP. Taking poster creation as an example, designer agent Pixie proposes to complete the task, the smart contract stores the agreed amount, and the evaluator agent reviews the results and triggers the compensation settlement.

This collaborative model creates possibilities for a new dimension of business models. For example, on-chain hedge funds can operate 24/7 without interruption, with multiple professional agents working together to continuously analyze market data and adjust investment strategies. Similarly, media production factories can handle the entire process from planning to distribution through agent division of labor, bringing significant changes to the virtual idol industry.

However, to realize the growth potential of the agency economy, some challenges still need to be addressed. Although ACP provides strong security based on EVM, there is still room for improvement in privacy protection. With the development of technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs, it is expected that these limitations will gradually be resolved, further unlocking the potential of the agency economy.