Remember: Virtuals is not Pump.fun, and AI Agent is not AI Meme.
Written by: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily
Recently, the AI agent creation platform Virtuals Protocol on the Base ecosystem has been gaining popularity. According to Coingecko data, in the past week, its governance token VIRTUAL has increased by over 130%, while AI agent tokens on the platform such as AIXBT have surged over 290%, GAME over 420%, VADER over 400%, and LUNA over 34%.
The wealth effect is bound to attract project teams and on-chain miners—according to Dune data, there are over 8,779 AI agent tokens launched on the Virtuals platform, and 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 have stated that compared to Solana Meme, the current number of participants in the Virtuals ecosystem is still relatively small, with a lower PVP level, and it has a decent wealth-making effect.
To bridge the information gap and help those unfamiliar with the Base and Virtuals ecosystems seize new opportunities, Odaily Planet Daily will introduce how to participate in the Virtuals ecosystem in this article, while briefly discussing the correct way to mine in the Virtuals ecosystem.
Introduction to Virtuals and Participation Guide
Although Virtuals Protocol is an AI agent creation platform, its issuance method draws from the design of pump.fun, allowing anyone to deploy AI agents with one click through fun.virtuals, while also achieving fair issuance of AI agent tokens.
Similar to pump.fun, Virtuals is divided into internal and external markets. When the number of tokens purchased in the internal market fun.virtuals reaches 42,420 VIRTUAL, the corresponding AI agent tokens will be transferred to the external market app.virtuals, and the liquidity of the tokens in the internal market will be deposited into Uniswap. 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 requires spending 10 VIRTUAL (currently about 13 USDT), and a 1% fee is charged for both buying and selling.
Participation Guide
Purchase VIRTUAL
Whether trading AI agent tokens in the internal or external market of Virtuals, 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 is available on exchanges such as Bybit, Gate.io, and Bitget, where users can directly buy and withdraw to the chain.
Players can also choose to exchange VIRTUAL through DEX, with the largest liquidity pool for VIRTUAL on Aerodrome, where BTC or ETH can be used for low-slippage exchanges. 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.
Buying Tokens in the Internal Market
First, enter the Virtual internal market website fun.virtuals. As shown in the image below, the interface is similar to pump.fun. Click the wallet connection link in the upper right corner, 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, 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 image below. The page includes the token's K-line chart, 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 questions, unaffected by the dev.
However, a 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 for assistance. Copy the token contract address from the top of the browser, and you can intuitively view token holder information on GMGN, while basescan allows you to check specific trading volumes.
Buying Tokens in the External Market
Once the internal market is full, the tokens will be moved to the external market app.virtuals. As shown in the image below, the homepage displays basic information about all external market tokens, including token market cap, daily changes, liquidity, holding addresses, etc.
Compared to the internal market, the information about AI agents and their tokens in the external market is also more comprehensive. By randomly clicking on a token in the external market, you can view a clearer K-line chart, and you can directly swap tokens on the K-line chart. Tokens in the external market are essentially no different from regular tokens, and users can also search for and purchase them on other DEXs.
Mining Strategies in the Virtuals Ecosystem
Users who frequently use pump.fun and related tools to play with Memes may complain that Virtuals lacks supporting tools to assist in discovering Alpha on-chain. The purpose of pump.fun's Meme issuance is to continuously attract players' attention, resulting in thousands of Memes launching in the internal market daily, with players often considering buying a token from a hot topic or attention perspective.
Although the internal and external market mechanisms of Virtuals are similar to pump.fun in terms of issuance, it is ultimately an AI agent creation platform, not a Meme asset issuance platform. Currently, the AI agent tokens that have emerged in the Virtuals ecosystem with larger market caps generally have practical functions, such as data scraping and analysis AI agent AIxbt, virtual idol AI agent Luna, and interactive learning AI agent GAME.
Therefore, to mine in the Virtuals ecosystem, one may need a different mindset than when playing pump.fun, seeking out those AI agents that truly possess unique value and investing in them. A fact is that over 90% of the AI agent tokens born in the Virtuals internal market are "garbage" that merely ride on AI hype, and it is not easy for a token with unique value to emerge. However, due to the lower PVP level, the initial market cap of token issuance is relatively low, providing enough time for players to conduct research and enter.
Wee Kee, co-founder of Virtuals Protocol, 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 build on the platform. For retail investors, one good project a week is sufficient.
Currently, no one can shake Pump.fun's position as the king of Meme coin issuance. The popularity of the Virtuals ecosystem is partly due to the development of AI Memes on the Solana chain, which has driven the related sector. 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 AI agent ecosystem where agents can interact and trade, forming network effects.
Although Virtuals has borrowed from Pump.fun in terms of issuance, and its marketing and dissemination of AI agent tokens align with Memes, it still maintains the original intention of developing projects. For mining players, changing gameplay and mindset in the Virtuals ecosystem, spending more time analyzing AI agent products and fundamentals, and engaging in "value investing" may be the correct approach. Additionally, for the current Base ecosystem, which has far less liquidity than Solana, merely replicating the Meme ecosystem can only attract traffic and "predators." It is the differentiation of products and the uniqueness of the ecosystem that can retain users.
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