Venice.AI brings DeepSeek private connection, other AI agents adopt the model to rebuild attention

Venice.AI was one of the high-profile AI agents to switch to DeepSeek, while claiming to offer a private connection. The AI agent joined the trend of older projects switching their model in an attempt to re-spark attention.

Venice.AI is one of the high-profile agent projects to add DeepSeek as its model. The Venice project, launched by Erik Voorhees, aims to offer a personalized chat while claiming zero censorship. The airdrop arrived as the AI agent narrative was slowing down, leaving only the most active projects.

Voorhees, creator of the ShapeShift exchange service and Bitcoin supporter, recently reintroduced Venice.AI. The model first appeared on social media in May 2024 but rebranded itself as a wrapper for DeepSeek. 

If you want to use DeepSeek but don't want all your convos going to the CCP, use https://t.co/gc9qMSmcwr

All convos are private, stored only in your local browser.

Must be Pro user to access DeepSeek pic.twitter.com/EKKL8FMOGG

— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) January 27, 2025

The Venice.AI project also distinguished itself by finally airdropping a token. The airdrop arrived after the AI service had built up a user base of 400,000 registrations, with 50,000 daily active users and 15,000 hourly requests.

The Venice token was airdropped to all users with Base wallets. The new VVV ticker reportedly reached 250K wallets belonging to live users or other AI agents. However, the token was not as widely held hours after its launch, instead consolidating in under 40K wallets. 

Venice.AI becomes a vector for DeepSeek

In addition to launching a token, Venice.AI opened its API and became a hub for other AI agents and developers. The language model and chat can now be integrated into third-party apps. 

Venice.AI also moved beyond the AI agent token as a speculative meme. VVV can be staked, becoming a part of the AI resource economy. All token holders will be able to stake VVV and use it to pay for inferences, while also earning passive income. Using VVV tokens for inferences is only for eligible former users, after upgrading to a premium account.

With the recent move, Venice.AI has assured its token would not be sold, as the platform can be used to rebuild AI agents. The current agent space is just starting to switch to DeepSeek, looking for the most efficient tools to rebuild the top agentic personalities. In addition to integrating DeepSeek, Venice.AI will offer API access to Llama 3.3, and Q2en 2.5 Coder.

The API of Venice.AI has privacy as its main goal, with no chat logs stored or tracked. The Venice project claims to offer language models independent of OpenAI, which had raised issues about tracking and lack of privacy.

Following the news of the Venice.AI airdrop and access point, most Base AI agent tokens recovered and were in the green. Some AI agents are now claiming to be the first to use DeepSeek while trying to launch new AI tokens.

Venice.AI airdrops 50% VVV token supply to users

The unexpected VVV airdrop consolidated some of the top existing AI projects. Eligible users were added based on their usage of Virtuals Protocol, Aerodrome, Degen, AIXBT, GAME, LUNA, VADER, and other existing agent communities. 

Out of 100M VVV tokens, 50% were airdropped to all eligible communities. Of that supply, 25% went to AI agents on the Base ecosystem, especially those created through Virtuals Protocol.

The Venice.AI company will retain 35% of the supply, while the remaining 15% will be used for incentives and liquidity. The token will also have other utility functions within the app, going beyond the initial staking requirement. 

A few hours after the airdrop, VVV was held in 39,671 wallets on the Base chain, lower than the initial predicted number of eligible addresses. The Venice AI VVV token launched with an initial valuation of $20M, later gaining a Coinbase listing at $350M. 

The launch of VVV on Base tracks the chain’s goal of turning into a hub for consumer crypto, feeding into a new economy of AI resources. The recent release broadens access to the Venice API, which was previously available for Pro users only. 

Hours after its launch, VVV moved from the low of $10.92 to a peak above $18.79. VVV then consolidated around $12.59, for a fully diluted valuation above $1.2B. Overall, AI agent tokens remained subdued, as their market cap remained under $10B.

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