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, its governance token VIRTUAL surged over 130% in the past week, while AI agent tokens on the platform such as AIXBT surged over 290%, GAME surged over 420%, VADER surged over 400%, and LUNA surged over 34%.
The wealth effect will inevitably attract project parties and on-chain gold 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, approximately doubling from the past.
Many community members deeply involved in the Virtuals ecosystem express that compared to Solana memes, the current number of participants in the Virtuals ecosystem is still relatively small, with a lighter PVP level and a decent earning effect.
In order to bridge the information gap and allow friends unfamiliar with the Base and Virtuals ecosystems to seize new opportunities, Odaily Planet Daily will introduce how to participate in the Virtuals ecosystem in this article, while briefly discussing what the correct gold mining posture in the Virtuals ecosystem is.
Introduction to Virtuals and participation tutorial
Although Virtuals Protocol is an AI agent creation platform, its issuance method draws on the design of pump.fun. Anyone can deploy AI agents with one click through fun.virtuals, 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 market fun.virtuals reaches 42420 VIRTUAL, the corresponding AI agent token will be transferred to the external market app.virtuals. The liquidity of the tokens in the internal market will be deposited into Uniswap, and the tokens purchased in the internal market will automatically convert to external market tokens and be stored in wallets. Creating AI agent tokens in the internal market requires spending 10 VIRTUAL (currently approximately 13 USDT), and a 1% transaction fee is charged for both buying and selling.
Participation tutorial
Purchase VIRTUAL
Whether trading AI agent tokens in the Virtuals internal or external market, users 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 is already listed on exchanges such as Bybit, Gate.io, and Bitget, allowing users to directly buy it on the exchanges and withdraw it to the chain.
Players can also choose to exchange VIRTUAL through DEX. The largest liquidity pool on the VIRTUAL chain is at Aerodrome, where BTC or ETH can be used 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 best exchange path on-chain.
Buying tokens in the internal market
First, enter the Virtual internal market 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 supporting decentralized wallets such as 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 quickly check and filter the recently created AI agent tokens, it is generally advisable to use the 'Latest' sorting method. The homepage will display each token's logo, creator, market capitalization, token name, and description.
Randomly click on a token, as shown in the figure below. The page includes the token's K-line, buy/sell area, and internal market progress, along with a unique interactive area for AI agent tokens. Players can communicate with the AI agent via text, and the agent will automatically respond to player inquiries, unaffected by dev control.
However, the drawback of the Virtuals internal market is that it is impossible to see specific trading volumes and holding addresses, so we need other tools like GMGN and basescan to assist. By copying the token contract address in the browser's upper section, you can visually view token holder information on GMGN, and check specific trading volumes 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 figure below, the homepage displays basic information about all external market tokens, including token market capitalization, daily changes, liquidity, holding addresses, etc.
Compared to the internal market, the information regarding AI agents and their tokens in the external market is also more comprehensive. In the external market, by randomly clicking on a token, one can view a clearer K-line chart, and directly swap tokens on the K-line chart. The tokens in the external market are essentially no different from regular tokens, and users can also search and purchase them on other DEXs.
Gold mining strategies in the Virtuals ecosystem
Users who frequently use pump.fun and related tools for playing memes may complain that Virtuals lacks supporting tools to assist in chain scanning for Alpha. The purpose of meme issuance on pump.fun is to continuously attract player attention, thus leading to thousands of memes launching in the internal market every day, and players often consider buying a token from the perspective of hotspots and attention.
Although the internal and external market mechanisms of Virtuals are similar to pump.fun in terms of issuance methods, it is ultimately an AI agent creation platform, not a meme asset issuance platform. Currently, the AI agent tokens with larger market capitalizations that have emerged in the Virtuals ecosystem 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, if you want to mine gold in the Virtuals ecosystem, you may need a different mindset compared to playing pump.fun, finding those AI agents that truly have unique value and investing in them. One fact is that over 90% of AI agent tokens born in the Virtuals internal market are 'garbage' that merely rides on AI hype. It is not easy for a token with unique value to emerge, but due to the relatively light PVP level, the initial market capitalization of token issuance is low, thus providing enough time for players to research and invest.
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 abundantly, but to attract top-tier AI teams to build on the platform. For retail investors, one good project a week is sufficient. (Related reading: Interview with Virtuals Protocol co-founder: We do not want to become Pump.fun, but we want to make competitors feel desperate.)
Pump.fun currently holds the position of the king of meme coin issuance, and the popularity of the Virtuals ecosystem is partly due to the development of AI memes on the Solana chain, which has invigorated related sectors. However, the vision of 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 with each other, forming network effects.
Although Virtuals has drawn on Pump.fun for its issuance, and its marketing and dissemination of AI agent tokens align with memes, it still maintains the original intention of doing projects. For gold mining players, changing strategies and mindset within the Virtuals ecosystem, spending more time analyzing AI agent products and fundamentals, and engaging in 'value investing' may be the correct posture. Also, for the current Base ecosystem, which has far less liquidity than Solana, mere replication of the meme ecosystem can only attract traffic and 'predators'; only differentiated products and the uniqueness of the ecosystem can retain users.
