Remember: Virtuals is not Pump.fun; AI Agent is not AI Meme.

Written by: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily

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 risen over 130%, and AI agent tokens on the platform such as AIXBT have increased over 290%, GAME over 420%, VADER over 400%, and LUNA over 34%.

The wealth effect will undoubtedly attract project parties and on-chain gold miners—according to Dune data, over 8,779 AI agent tokens have been launched on the Virtuals platform. Since November 29, the daily number of AI agent tokens created has surged to about twice that of the past.

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 lower PVP level and decent profit potential.

To bridge the information gap and help friends unfamiliar with the Base and Virtuals ecosystem seize new opportunities, Odaily Planet Daily will introduce how to participate in the Virtuals ecosystem in this article while briefly discussing the correct strategies for gold mining in the Virtuals ecosystem.

Introduction and participation tutorial for Virtuals

Although Virtuals Protocol is an AI agent creation platform, it has borrowed design elements from pump.fun in its issuance method; anyone can deploy AI agents with one click through fun.virtuals, while also achieving 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 platform fun.virtuals reaches 42,420 VIRTUAL, the corresponding AI agent token will be transferred to the external platform app.virtuals, and the liquidity of tokens in the internal market will be deposited into Uniswap. Tokens purchased in the internal market will also be automatically converted into external tokens and stored in the wallet. Creating AI agent tokens in the internal market requires spending 10 VIRTUAL (currently about 13 USDT), and a 1% transaction fee is charged for buying and selling.

Participation tutorial

Purchase VIRTUAL

Whether trading AI agent tokens in the Virtuals internal or external markets, you need to use the Virtuals protocol token VIRTUAL. Therefore, the first step is to purchase VIRTUAL and deposit it into the Base chain. Currently, VIRTUAL has been listed on exchanges such as Bybit, Gate.io, and Bitget, where users can directly purchase and withdraw to the chain.

Players can also choose to exchange VIRTUAL through DEX. The largest liquidity pool on the VIRTUAL chain is at Aerodrome, allowing exchanges with BTC or ETH with lower slippage. Of course, for players unfamiliar with on-chain operations, they can directly exchange within the OKX wallet, which will automatically help users find the optimal exchange path on-chain.

Purchase tokens in the internal market

First, enter the Virtual internal website fun.virtuals, as shown in the figure below. The interface is similar to pump.fun. Click the link in the upper right corner to connect your wallet. Currently, decentralized wallets such as OKX Wallet, Metamask, and Phantom are supported.

Tokens created in the internal platform can be sorted in three ways: 'Featured', 'Market Cap', and 'Latest'. If you want to quickly check and filter the recently created AI agent tokens, the 'Latest' sorting method is generally used. The homepage will display each token's logo, creator, market cap, token name, and description.

Randomly click on a token, as shown in the figure below. The page includes the token's K-line, buy and sell areas, and internal progress, along with a unique interactive area for AI agent tokens. Players can communicate with the AI agent through text, and the agent will automatically respond to player questions, unaffected by dev control.

However, the drawback of the Virtuals internal platform is that specific trading volumes and holding address data cannot be viewed, so we need other tools like GMGN and basescan for assistance. Copy the token contract address at the top of the browser; you can intuitively view token holder information on GMGN, and check specific trading volumes on basescan.

Purchase 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 figure below, the homepage displays basic information about all external market tokens, including market cap, daily changes, liquidity, holding addresses, and more.

Compared to the internal platform, the information about AI agents and their tokens in the external market is more comprehensive. In the external market, randomly clicking on a token allows you to view clearer K-line charts, and you can directly swap tokens on the K-line charts. Tokens in the external market are essentially no different from ordinary tokens, and users can also search and purchase them on other DEXs.

Gold mining strategies in the Virtuals ecosystem

Frequent users of pump.fun and related tools for playing Memes may complain that Virtuals lacks supporting tools to assist in scanning the chain for Alpha. The purpose of issuing Memes on pump.fun is to continuously attract players' attention, leading to thousands of Memes being launched in the internal market daily, and players often consider buying a token from a hotspot perspective or attention.

Although the internal and external mechanisms of Virtuals are similar to pump.fun in their issuance method, it ultimately is an AI agent creation platform, not a Meme asset issuance platform. Currently, the AI agent tokens emerging from the Virtuals ecosystem with larger market caps generally have practical utility, such as data scraping and analysis AI agents like AIxbt, virtual idol AI agents like Luna, and interactive learning AI agents like GAME.

Therefore, to mine gold in the Virtuals ecosystem, you may need a different mindset than playing pump.fun, seeking out those truly unique AI agents to invest in. One fact is that over 90% of the AI agent tokens born in the Virtuals internal platform are 'trash' that merely ride on AI. It’s not easy for a uniquely valuable AI agent token to emerge, but due to the relatively low PVP level, the initial market values of token issuances are also low, allowing sufficient time for players to research and get involved.

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 about issuing assets quickly and in large quantities, but rather attracting top AI teams to build on the platform. For retail investors, one good project a week is sufficient.

Pump.fun's status as the king of meme coin issuance currently seems unshakable. The Virtuals ecosystem's popularity is partly due to the development of AI Memes on the Solana chain, which drives the related sector. However, the vision of the Virtuals Protocol is not only to simplify the process of creating AI agents and tokenization but also to build a large AI agent ecosystem that allows agents to interact and trade, forming network effects.

Although Virtuals has borrowed from Pump.fun in issuance, and AI agent token marketing and dissemination align with Meme, it still maintains the original intention of doing projects. For gold mining players, changing gameplay and thinking in the Virtuals ecosystem, spending more time analyzing AI agent products and fundamentals, and engaging in 'value investment' may be the correct approach. Also, for the current liquidity far below that of Solana's Base ecosystem, simply replicating the Meme ecosystem can only attract traffic and 'predators'; only differentiated products and the uniqueness of the ecosystem can retain users.