New ways to earn on Virtuals: How to stake veVIRTUAL for maximum returns?
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New ways to earn on Virtuals: How to stake veVIRTUAL for maximum returns?
Strategy considerations for veVIRTUAL staking, emphasizing balancing liquidity and points rewards, avoiding excessive locking to capture market opportunities.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: 0xJeff, lead of @steak_studio
Translation: deep from BlockBeats
Editor's note: This article analyzes strategies for veVIRTUAL staking and the points game on the Virtuals platform. It covers recent tokenomics updates, emphasizing alignment between long-term stakers and the protocol, and advises against fully maximizing token lockups to maintain liquidity. The author recommends earning 100k–400k Virgen points daily by locking 10k–50k $VIRTUAL, staying flexible amid market volatility, and carefully selecting high-potential projects to maximize returns.
Below is the original content (slightly edited for clarity):
This is a short and concise piece sharing my thoughts on veVIRTUAL staking and how to master the points game.
If you've been active in the Virtuals trenches recently, you've likely noticed one of the biggest updates the team has ever launched:
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Integration with Kaito and launch of a refined Yapper leaderboard, rewarding top Yappers and Kaito stakers with points.
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An updated tokenomics model introducing veVIRTUAL (20% of points now go to veVIRTUAL stakers instead of holders).
The tokenomics shift better aligns long-term supporters—those willing to lock $VIRTUAL—with the protocol (Virtuals and its agent teams). This new dynamic reminds me of xGRAIL’s tokenomics during the Arbitrum season, and the ve(3,3) models when Velodrome and Aerodrome first emerged on OP and Base.
Having navigated various narratives and waves since 2021, one lesson stands out: under any circumstances—especially within veTokenomics models—it's extremely unwise to max-lock your entire token balance.
Why?
Step back: the value of $VIRTUAL comes from trading fees generated by activity on the platform. The more projects that launch, and the more existing ones innovate with exciting features, the more users get excited to trade on Virtuals.
Then there are "Virgen Points," required for participation in Genesis launches, earned through active trading on Virtuals, holding/diamond-handing agent tokens, and holding $VIRTUAL (prior to the latest change). $BIOS became the prime example—a hundred-bagger that continues drawing builders and traders into the Virgen trenches, reinforcing the flywheel effect.
Virgen Points are now established as "digital gold," valued between $0.012 and $0.034 per point (if you earn 100k points daily and invest them in successfully launched projects, you could make $1,200–$3,400 daily).
Now… here’s why max-locking is a bad idea:
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No launchpad stays hot forever—hype cycles and narratives ebb and flow due to multiple factors. The Virtuals team has proven to be masters of narrative, but facing competition, no one knows how long the current Virtuals wave will last.
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There's a "sufficient" threshold for daily points earnings (per wallet). For example, max-locking 150k $VIRTUAL to get 150k veVIRTUAL earns you 1.5M–1.8M points daily. Bro, you don’t need that many points.
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There’s an implicit liquidity cost. In any cycle, tokens can surge (or crash) dramatically. When it’s pumping hard, if you can’t take profits, you miss out. Then the token drops—because nothing lasts forever. All good things end; the key is whether you extracted maximum value.
Again—if you look at this table, the return on points spent heavily depends on the quality of the projects you invest in, the surrounding hype (how many points are committed), and how high the FDV (fully diluted valuation) climbs post-launch. Project selection is critical in this game. The better your picks, the more value you capture from your points.
How much $VIRTUAL should you lock? What’s the strategy?
Assume $AXR represents the worst-case scenario (requiring 4M points for full allocation)—earning 400k points daily for one to one-and-a-half weeks should suffice. This equates to locking 50k $VIRTUAL for two years.
Assume $WHIM is the base case (requiring 820k points for full allocation)—earning 100k points daily should be enough. This equates to locking 10k $VIRTUAL for two years.
The rule of thumb: aim to earn 100k–400k points daily to ensure sufficient points for moderately to highly competitive launches within a week to a week-and-a-half.
Whether to partially max-lock or mid-term lock a portion of your $VIRTUAL is up to you. But ensure you hold both liquid and illiquid assets, stay flexible, and realize profits as $VIRTUAL continues to rise.
Specific gameplay
I only max-lock a small portion (5–10%) of my $VIRTUAL as veVIRTUAL to secure enough points for full allocations in high-hype launches. The remaining 95% stays liquid so I can profit when the market rebounds.
Suppose I earn 250k points daily, make decent project selections, and exit at the right time, with each point worth $0.022 = $5,500 daily → breakeven in just 5 days.
If we assume the worst-case value of $0.010 per point, that’s $2,750 daily → breakeven in only 9 days.
My plan is to short-term play only the most point-efficient projects while diamond-handing only tier-one projects. The ultimate goal is accumulating more $VIRTUAL, treating the Genesis launch platform / Virgen Points as a yield-generating mechanism for $VIRTUAL.
Friends interested in my future picks can check my latest Substack article, "The After Hour EP.2," where I share analysis on three upcoming investment targets.
Make sure you know what you're doing. Do the math before making decisions. Don’t FOMO into max-locking everything—that’s the worst possible move.
Remember, investing in Virtuals agents is more like "trading" than investing in tech (at least for now). You’re backing ultra-low-cap micro-projects with massive upside potential.
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