$VIRTUAL is trading at $2.47—up 15.7% in the past 24 hours—with a 24-hour trading volume of $538.6 million and a live market capitalization of $1.61 billion. This surge has been driven by a $14.2 million smart-money injection via Base’s Genesis launchpad proof-of-contribution system—signaling institutional conviction and tightening circulating supply; a wave of AI-token mania that saw VIRTUAL trend on CoinGecko after a nearly 300% rally in May, drawing momentum-driven traders back into its arbitrage-resistant auction model; and bullish price forecasts from analytics platforms like CoinCodex, which now project VIRTUAL reaching $3.20–$3.50 by year-end, fueling speculative accumulation ahead of further protocol upgrades.