Want to strike gold in the Virtuals ecosystem? Here's an idea I'd like to share.
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Want to strike gold in the Virtuals ecosystem? Here's an idea I'd like to share.
Remember: Virtuals is not Pump.fun, AI Agent is not AI Meme.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsText: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily
Recently, Virtuals Protocol—a platform on the Base ecosystem for creating AI agents—has been gaining significant traction. According to Coingecko data, over the past week, its protocol governance token VIRTUAL surged more than 130%, while AI agent tokens on the platform such as AIXBT rose over 290%, GAME over 420%, VADER over 400%, and LUNA over 34%.
This wealth effect is naturally attracting project teams and on-chain speculators. According to Dune data, over 8,779 AI agent tokens have been launched on the Virtuals platform. Since November 29, the daily number of newly created AI agent tokens has sharply increased, approximately doubling previous levels.
Many deeply involved members of the Virtuals community note that compared to Solana Memes, participation in the Virtuals ecosystem remains relatively low, the level of player-versus-player (PVP) competition is lighter, and it offers notable profit potential.
To bridge information gaps and help those unfamiliar with Base and the Virtuals ecosystem seize new opportunities, Odaily Planet Daily will introduce how to participate in the Virtuals ecosystem and explore the right strategies for successful speculation within it.
Introduction to Virtuals and Participation Guide
Although Virtuals Protocol is an AI agent creation platform, in terms of token issuance it draws inspiration from pump.fun. Anyone can deploy an AI agent with one click via fun.virtuals, achieving fair distribution of the corresponding AI agent token.
Similar to pump.fun, Virtuals also operates an inner market and outer market. When purchases of a token in the inner market (fun.virtuals) reach 42,420 VIRTUAL, the corresponding AI agent token migrates to the outer market (app.virtuals). Liquidity from the inner market is deposited into Uniswap, and users’ tokens purchased in the inner market are automatically converted and transferred to their wallets as outer market tokens. Creating an AI agent token in the inner market costs 10 VIRTUAL (currently around 13 USDT), and both buying and selling incur a 1% fee.
Participation Guide
Purchasing VIRTUAL
Whether trading AI agent tokens in the inner or outer market of Virtuals, you must use the protocol’s native token, VIRTUAL. Therefore, the first step is to purchase VIRTUAL and deposit it onto the Base chain. VIRTUAL is now listed on exchanges including Bybit, Gate.io, and Bitget, where users can directly buy and withdraw tokens to the chain.
Alternatively, users may swap for VIRTUAL via decentralized exchanges (DEXs). The largest liquidity pool for VIRTUAL on-chain is on Aerodrome, where swapping via BTC or ETH results in lower slippage. For users less familiar with on-chain operations, direct conversion within OKX Wallet is also available—it automatically finds the optimal swap path across chains.
Buying Tokens in the Inner Market
First, visit the Virtuals inner market website at fun.virtuals. As shown below, the interface resembles pump.fun. Click “Connect Wallet” in the top-right corner. Supported wallets include OKX Wallet, MetaMask, Phantom, and other decentralized wallets.
Tokens in the inner market can be sorted in three ways: "Featured", "Market Cap", and "Latest". To quickly identify recently launched AI agent tokens, the "Latest" sorting option is typically used. The homepage displays each token’s logo, creator, market cap, token name, and description.
Clicking on any token at random brings up a page showing the token’s price chart, buy/sell section, progress toward migration to the outer market, and a unique interactive zone for AI agents. Users can chat with the AI agent via text, and the agent will automatically respond without developer intervention.
However, a drawback of the inner market is the lack of visibility into specific metrics like trading volume and holder addresses. Thus, external tools like GMGN and Basescan are needed. Copy the token’s contract address from the browser bar and paste it into GMGN to view holder information clearly, or into Basescan to check detailed transaction volume.
Buying Tokens in the Outer Market
Once the inner market funding goal is reached, the token moves to the outer market at app.virtuals. As shown below, the homepage displays basic information for all outer market tokens, including market cap, daily change, liquidity, and number of holders.
Compared to the inner market, the outer market provides more comprehensive information about AI agents and their tokens. Clicking on any token reveals a clearer price chart, and users can directly swap tokens from within the chart interface. Tokens in the outer market are functionally identical to standard tokens and can also be found and traded on other DEXs.
Gold-Rush Strategies in the Virtuals Ecosystem
Users experienced with pump.fun and related tools might complain that Virtuals currently lacks dedicated tools for scanning the chain to discover alpha opportunities. The purpose of Meme issuance on pump.fun is to continuously capture attention, resulting in thousands of new Memes launching daily in the inner market. Players often choose tokens based on trending topics or attention-grabbing factors.
While Virtuals adopts a similar inner/outer market mechanism to pump.fun, it is ultimately an AI agent creation platform—not merely a Meme asset launcher. The larger-cap AI agent tokens that have emerged in the Virtuals ecosystem mostly offer real utility. Examples include AIxbt (a data scraping and analytics AI), Luna (a virtual idol AI), and GAME (an interactive learning AI).
Therefore, successfully speculating in the Virtuals ecosystem may require a different mindset than playing on pump.fun—seeking out AI agents with genuine, unique value and investing early. It's true that over 90% of AI agent tokens launched in the inner market are low-quality projects merely piggybacking on the AI trend. Finding a truly valuable AI agent token isn't easy—but due to the relatively low PVP intensity and low initial market caps, players have sufficient time for research and entry.
Wee Kee, co-founder of Virtuals Protocol, stated in a recent interview that Virtuals does not aim to become another Pump.fun. Its core KPI isn’t launching assets as fast and frequently as possible, but rather attracting top-tier AI teams to build on the platform. For retail investors, he noted, one high-quality project per week is enough.
Pump.fun remains unchallenged as the king of Meme coin launches. The current popularity of the Virtuals ecosystem is partly riding on the growth of AI-related Memes on Solana, which has energized the broader AI-themed sector. However, Virtuals Protocol’s vision extends beyond simplifying AI agent creation and tokenization—it aims to build a vast AI agent ecosystem where agents can interact and transact with each other, creating network effects.
While Virtuals borrows its launch mechanics from Pump.fun and aligns its AI agent token marketing with Meme culture, it remains committed to building meaningful projects. For speculators, adapting their approach—spending more time analyzing AI agent products and fundamentals, and practicing "value investing"—may be the correct strategy. Moreover, for the Base ecosystem, whose liquidity is still far behind Solana’s, simply copying the Meme ecosystem can only attract traffic and "predators." Only through differentiated products and unique ecosystem qualities can it retain long-term users.
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