Until recently, Velvet (VELVET) remained a relatively little-known token from the emerging DeFAI* sector. However, the situation changed dramatically in the summer of 2026: the asset’s price began to rise rapidly, its market capitalization increased dozens of times within a matter of weeks, and VELVET became one of the most widely discussed cryptocurrencies on the market.
* DeFAI is a sector that combines decentralized finance (DeFi) technologies with artificial intelligence (AI). DeFAI platforms use AI to analyze market data, automate financial operations, manage investment strategies, and optimize returns without the involvement of centralized intermediaries.
Investors were attracted not only by the token’s record-breaking price performance. The token is backed by the developing Velvet Capital ecosystem, which combines decentralized finance tools, multichain technologies, and artificial intelligence.
DeFAI: when decentralized finance meets artificial intelligence
Velvet Capital operates in the DeFAI sector — decentralized intelligent finance. This segment emerged at the intersection of two rapidly growing technological fields: decentralized finance and artificial intelligence.
Traditional DeFi platforms allow users to carry out financial transactions without banks or other centralized intermediaries.
DeFAI projects go further: they use artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze large volumes of market information, automatically manage investments, select strategies, and optimize returns.
In other words, DeFAI seeks to make decentralized finance not only autonomous but also “intelligent.” Some decisions that investors previously had to make independently can be handled by AI agents on such platforms.
What Velvet Capital is
VELVET is the native token of the Velvet Capital ecosystem. The project positions itself as a full-scale investment platform with a multichain, or cross-chain, architecture.
This means that the ecosystem is not limited to a single blockchain and can combine assets, protocols, and liquidity from different networks. This approach allows users to interact with several areas of the cryptocurrency market within a single platform.
Velvet Capital offers a range of trading, analytical, and investment tools:
automated investment portfolio management using AI agents.
* A spot market is a market where digital assets are bought and sold at the current market price, with the transaction executed almost immediately.
* A derivatives market is a market for derivative financial instruments whose value depends on the price of another underlying asset, such as a cryptocurrency. The most common derivatives include futures and options.
* Farming (yield farming) is a method of earning income in decentralized finance in which a user deposits digital assets into the liquidity pools of DeFi protocols. In return, the user may receive fees, interest, or rewards in the form of additional tokens.
Thus, demand for VELVET is connected not only to speculative interest from investors. It also depends on how actively the platform itself is developed and used.
According to Velvet Capital, the ecosystem currently has more than 100,000 users, while the total volume of completed transactions exceeds $200 million.
When VELVET was launched
The VELVET token was launched in July 2025 on the BNB Chain and Base blockchains. In the same month, the digital asset was listed on cryptocurrency exchanges.
At the time of listing, one VELVET token was worth approximately $0.04, while the project’s market capitalization was approaching $10 million.
The maximum supply is limited to 1 billion tokens. As of July 2026, 420 million VELVET were in circulation — approximately 42% of the total supply.
Within Velvet Capital, the token serves several functions at once. It is used to pay staking* rewards, participate in ecosystem governance, obtain fee discounts, and access specific platform features.
* Staking is a mechanism in which a cryptocurrency holder locks or delegates their tokens to participate in the operation of a blockchain or a specific service, receiving a reward in return. In networks that use the Proof-of-Stakeconsensus mechanism, assets placed in staking participate in validator selection, transaction confirmation, and network security.
An 18-fold increase: what happened to VELVET in the summer of 2026
The real surge of interest in Velvet began in June 2026.
From the beginning to the middle of the month, VELVET’s market capitalization increased more than 18-fold — from $35 million to $646 million. During the same period, the price of the token rose more than 15-fold, reaching $0.15. As a result, the asset entered the top 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
A sharp correction followed: market capitalization fell to approximately $200 million. However, the downturn was short-lived. The figure subsequently increased by another fourfold, reaching $800 million.
At the same time, the price of VELVET climbed to $5.22, setting an all-time high.
Such rapid growth was the result of several developments occurring at once.
Futures on Aster and increased trading activity
One important factor was the launch of VELVET futures contracts* on the Aster exchange.
* A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price at a specified point in the future.
The introduction of derivatives made the token available to a broader audience of traders, including market participants who prefer to trade using leverage* or profit from a decline in the asset’s price.
* Leverage is a mechanism that allows a trader to open a position whose value exceeds the amount of their own funds by using borrowed capital provided by a trading platform. For example, with $100 and 10× leverage, a trader can execute a $1,000 trade.
Following the launch of futures, trading activity increased sharply. At its peak, the daily trading volume of VELVET approached $150 million.
High trading volumes made the token more visible and simultaneously increased the volatility* of its price.
* Volatility is the degree to which the value of an asset changes over a certain period. High volatility means that the price may change sharply and significantly, both upward and downward.
Expansion to Ethereum, Solana, and Hyperliquid
Additional interest was generated by the Velvet Capital team’s plans to expand the ecosystem’s presence across other blockchains.
The project intends to add support for Ethereum, Solana, and Hyperliquid — networks with large user bases and well-developed decentralized application infrastructure.
Such expansion could potentially give Velvet access to new sources of liquidity and attract users from the largest cryptocurrency ecosystems. For a multichain platform, the scale of its presence across different networks is one of the key growth factors.
It expanded the range of digital assets available to Velvet Capital users and increased the flexibility of investment portfolio management.
For a platform focused on automated and AI-managed strategies, access to additional liquidity and trading pairs is particularly important. The more assets and markets connected to the ecosystem, the broader the opportunities to create and configure investment strategies.
Synthetic shares of SpaceX and other private companies
The launch of synthetic*pre-IPO* markets on Velvet Capital attracted particular attention.
* A synthetic market is a market for derivative digital instruments whose price is linked to the value of an underlying asset, such as a stock, cryptocurrency, stock market index, or commodity. A buyer of a synthetic asset gains economic exposure to changes in the price of the underlying asset but generally does not become its owner or acquire the rights associated with it. For example, a synthetic token tracking the value of shares in a private company may rise and fall in line with those shares. However, the holder of the token does not receive the actual shares, voting rights in the company, or dividends unless such rights are separately provided for under the terms of the instrument.
* Pre-IPO is the stage in the development of a private company that precedes the initial public offering of its shares on a stock exchange (IPO). Investments at this stage provide access to the company’s value before it enters the public market but are generally associated with increased risks and limited liquidity.
As a result, users gained the opportunity to invest in tokenized instruments linked to shares of major private companies, including SpaceX.
At the same time, such instruments are generally associated with higher risks and limited liquidity. In addition, a synthetic asset does not always represent direct ownership of the underlying company's shares; its price may merely track the value of the underlying instrument.
Nevertheless, the very possibility of gaining indirect exposure to private companies became one of the factors that increased interest in Velvet Capital.
Velvet became the leader of the DeFAI segment
Velvet continues to hold a leading position among cryptocurrencies in the DeFAI sector.
In terms of market capitalization, VELVET was almost twice as large as its closest competitor, Derive (DRV). The difference in trading activity was even more pronounced: Velvet’s trading volume was more than 13 times higher than that of DRV.
These figures indicate that VELVET has become one of the most prominent assets in its segment.