Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Golem (@web3_golem)
Recently, the AI agent creation platform Virtuals Protocol on the Base ecosystem chain has become increasingly popular. According to Coingecko data, in the past week, its governance token VIRTUAL has increased by over 130%, while AI agent tokens on the platform like AIXBT have surged by over 290%, GAME by over 420%, VADER by over 400%, and LUNA by over 34%.
The wealth effect will inevitably attract project parties and on-chain miners—according to Dune data, over 8779 AI agent tokens have been launched on the Virtuals platform. Since November 29, the daily creation of AI agent tokens has surged to about twice the previous amount.
Many community members deeply involved in the Virtuals ecosystem indicate that compared to Solana Meme, the current number of participants in the Virtuals ecosystem is still relatively small, with a lighter PVP level, and it has a remarkable profit-making effect.
To bridge the information gap and help friends unfamiliar with the Base and Virtuals ecosystems catch new opportunities, Odaily Planet Daily will introduce in this article how to participate in the Virtuals ecosystem, while briefly discussing the correct strategies for gold mining within the Virtuals ecosystem.
Introduction to Virtuals and participation tutorial
Although Virtuals Protocol is an AI agent creation platform, its issuance method draws from the design of pump.fun. Anyone can deploy an AI agent with one click through fun.virtuals, achieving a fair issuance of AI agent tokens.
Similar to pump.fun, Virtuals is also divided into internal and external markets. When the number of tokens purchased in the internal market fun.virtuals reaches 42420 VIRTUAL, the corresponding AI agent token will be transferred to the external market app.virtuals. The liquidity of tokens in the internal market will be deposited into Uniswap, and tokens purchased in the internal market will also be automatically converted into external market tokens and stored in the wallet. Creating AI agent tokens in the internal market costs 10 VIRTUAL (currently about 13 USDT), and there is a 1% fee for both buying and selling.
Participation tutorial
Buy VIRTUAL
Whether trading AI agent tokens in the Virtuals internal or external market, the Virtuals protocol token VIRTUAL must be used. Therefore, the first step is to buy VIRTUAL and deposit it on the Base chain. Currently, VIRTUAL is listed on exchanges like Bybit, Gate.io, and Bitget, allowing users to purchase directly on the exchange and withdraw tokens onto the chain.
Players can also choose to exchange VIRTUAL through DEX. The largest liquidity pool for VIRTUAL on-chain is at Aerodrome, where you can use BTC or ETH for low-slippage exchanges. Of course, for players unfamiliar with on-chain operations, they can also directly exchange within the OKX wallet, which will automatically help users find the optimal exchange path on-chain.
Buying tokens in the internal market
First, enter the Virtual internal market website fun.virtuals. As shown in the image, the interface is similar to pump.fun. Click the link in the upper right corner to connect your wallet; currently supporting decentralized wallets like OKX Wallet, Metamask, and Phantom.
Tokens created in the internal market can be sorted in three ways: 'Featured', 'Market Cap', and 'Latest'. If you want to promptly view and filter the most recently created AI agent tokens, generally use the 'Latest' sorting method. The homepage will display each token's logo, creator, market cap, token name, and description.
Randomly click on a token, as shown in the image. The page includes the token K-line, buy/sell area, and internal market progress, as well as a unique interactive area for AI agent tokens. Players can communicate with AI agents through text, and the agents will automatically reply to player questions without being controlled by the dev.
However, the drawback of the Virtuals internal market is that specific trading volume and holding address data cannot be seen, so we need other tools like GMGN and basescan to assist. By copying the token contract address at the top of the browser, you can intuitively view the token holder information on GMGN, and check the specific trading volume on basescan.
Buying tokens in the external market
Once the progress in the internal market is full, the tokens will be moved to the external market app.virtuals. As shown in the image, the homepage displays basic information about all tokens in the external market, including market capitalization, daily changes, liquidity, holding addresses, etc.
Compared to the internal market, the information about AI agents and their tokens in the external market is more comprehensive. In the external market, clicking on a random token allows for a clearer view of the K-line chart, and token swaps can be conducted directly on the K-line chart. The tokens in the external market are essentially no different from regular tokens, and users can also search for and purchase them on other DEXs.
Gold mining strategy in the Virtuals ecosystem
Users who frequently use pump.fun and related tools for meme activities might complain that Virtuals lacks supporting tools to assist in discovering Alpha on the chain. The purpose of pump.fun's meme issuance is to continuously attract players' attention, hence thousands of memes are launched in the internal market every day, leading players to consider buying a token mainly from hot topics and attention perspectives.
Although the internal and external market mechanisms of Virtuals are similar to pump.fun in terms of issuance, it ultimately is an AI agent creation platform and not a meme asset issuance platform. Currently, the larger market value AI agent tokens emerging in the Virtuals ecosystem generally have practical utility, such as data scraping and analysis AI agent AIxbt, virtual idol AI agent Luna, interactive learning AI agent GAME, etc.
Therefore, to mine gold within the Virtuals ecosystem, it may require a different mindset from playing pump.fun, seeking out those AI agents that truly possess unique value and investing in them. One fact is that more than 90% of AI agent tokens born in the Virtuals internal market are 'garbage' that merely ride the AI wave. It is not easy for a token with unique value to appear, but due to the relatively lighter PVP level, the initial market values of token issuances are low, providing enough time for players to conduct research and get on board.
Virtuals Protocol co-founder Wee Kee also stated in a recent interview that Virtuals does not want to become Pump.fun; its core KPI is not to issue assets quickly and in large quantities, but to attract top AI teams to the platform for building. For retail investors, one good project a week is sufficient. (Related reading: Exclusive interview with Virtuals Protocol co-founder: We don't want to become Pump.fun, but we want our competitors to feel despair.)
Pump.fun currently holds an unshakeable position as the king of meme coin issuance. The popularity of the Virtuals ecosystem is, to some extent, driven by the development of AI memes on the Solana chain, which has invigorated the sector related to AI. However, the vision of Virtuals Protocol is not only to simplify the process of creating and tokenizing AI agents but also to build a vast ecosystem of AI agents that can interact and trade with each other, forming network effects.
While Virtuals draws from Pump.fun in issuance, its marketing and dissemination of AI agent tokens align more with memes, it still maintains an original intention of project development. For gold mining players, changing the gameplay and mindset within the Virtuals ecosystem, spending more time analyzing AI agent products and fundamentals, and engaging in 'value investing' might be the correct approach. At the same time, for the Base ecosystem, which currently has far less liquidity than Solana, merely replicating the meme ecosystem can only attract traffic and 'predators'; retaining users requires differentiated products and the uniqueness of the ecosystem.
