Author: William M. Peaster, Senior Writer at Bankless; Translator: Jinse Finance xiaozou
Virtuals Protocol is an AI agent deployment platform built on Base. The project recently completed its Base deployment and released their first flagship agent, Luna, which has already amassed a large following on social media and live-streamed its "thoughts".
The hype surrounding these new releases has made Virtuals one of the top choices for many Base adventurers, with LUNA and VIRTUAL being the best-performing AI tokens in the past week.
The interest in the AI MEME coin space is evident, but what exactly is this protocol all about?
1. How the Virtuals Protocol Works
The Virtuals Protocol aims to deploy tokenized AI agents across various entertainment and gaming applications, allowing for shared ownership of these agents.
These AI agents are designed as autonomous agents, capable of planning and executing goals without human intervention. They communicate through text, voice, and 3D animations, and can dynamically interact with virtual environments, such as picking up items in games or engaging with users on social media platforms.
Whenever a new AI agent is created, it is tokenized by minting a fixed supply of the specific agent token, such as LUNA. These tokens are added to a liquidity pool, paired with the VIRTUAL token.
Users can purchase these tokens to become co-owners of the agent, granting them governance rights and economic rights in the future development and revenue generation of the agent.
The overall idea is that as the agents are deployed across various applications, they can generate revenue through user interactions. Through VIRTUAL, this revenue can be used to buy back and burn the agent tokens, reducing the supply and potentially increasing the value of the remaining tokens.
The Initial Agent Offering (IAO) refers to the process of launching new AI agents on this platform. Creators lock a certain amount of VIRTUAL tokens to mint and launch their agents, ensuring a fair and transparent distribution with no insider advantages.
The grand vision of the Virtuals Protocol makes it easier to integrate AI agents into applications, while also providing a simpler way to achieve shared ownership and earn revenue from these agents.
2. How to Get Started with the Virtuals Protocol
To use the Virtuals Protocol, you'll first need to have some VIRTUAL tokens. You can use these tokens to provide liquidity in the ecosystem pools and earn rewards, such as the Uniswap V2 LUNA-VIRTUAL pool.
VIRTUAL is also the primary currency for purchasing and creating AI agents on the Virtuals Protocol, so if you want to explore the platform more deeply, VIRTUAL tokens are a must-have.
Once you have VIRTUAL tokens, you can start browsing or searching on app.virtuals.io. If you see an agent that interests you, you can click on the name to go to its dedicated dashboard.
Here, you can get an overview of the agent's current status and app interactions. In the "Summary" tab, you can also scroll down to see a swap interface below the price chart, which you can use to exchange for the agent's tokens. Enter the amount of VIRTUAL you want to trade, and complete the transaction through your wallet. Use this dashboard to track your agent and perform two-way exchanges.
If you want to create and deploy your own AI agent, you can click the "Create New AI Agent" button on the app.virtuals.io homepage. You will then see the following setup interface:
The lowest-cost option is to set up a "Normal LP" pool, which currently costs 2400 VIRTUAL, or around $1,200. You can then continue to set up your agent details (profile picture, name, description, etc.) and complete the creation process!
