Virtuals returned to $1 billion,深入了解Genesis Launch“打新带老”新模式

Ancestry: Deep Tide TechFlow

Last year, we noticed the VIRTUALS Protocol early on, at a time when the AI Agent craze had not yet begun, and the market cap of the VIRTUAL token was only around 800k.

The story later became well known to everyone, as Virtuals sparked a wave of AI Agent enthusiasm on Base. In addition to the impressive Virtuals token itself, it also gave rise to a phenomenon-level token like AIXBT.

But after a cycle, the hype around AI Agents gradually dissipated, and the market seems to have fallen into silence; with the emergence and iteration of large models like DeepSeek, everyone feels that the narrative of AI Agents in Web3 is gradually being discredited and is of little use.

When you let your guard down and feel disheartened by the market, there are always new ways to create assets emerging, which can also lead to significant fluctuations in token prices.

In the past week, the Virtuals token has increased by 150%, and in just the last day, it has risen by 42%. Discussions related to Virtuals have once again returned to the timeline of crypto news.

The catalyst that led to the rise of Virtuals is undoubtedly the newly launched Genesis Launches event on its own platform.

If you haven't heard about this event so far, you can briefly understand it as:

Let you obtain the popular new AI proxy token "Priority Ticket Purchase Rights" by holding $VIRTUAL tokens and earning points.

Simply put, it is the change in the "new investment" model.

Each generation of versions brings forth new legends, and each version builds assets. New tokens, new stories, new mechanisms, can always ignite market enthusiasm.

The various activities and mechanism designs surrounding asset creation can easily open up new trends.

The previous wave of AI Agents on Base was largely driven by Virtuals; does this round of Genesis Launch contain new opportunities?

We also experienced the product to give you a quick understanding of the gameplay and mechanics of this Genesis Launch.

Contribution Pre-positioning, Zen-style New Investment

According to the official description, Genesis Launch is a fair launch platform created by Virtuals Protocol specifically for AI agent tokens.

In simple terms, it is a mechanism that allows new AI agent projects to issue tokens through a community-driven approach. Users can gain priority allocation of these new tokens by holding $VIRTUAL tokens and earning points.

In other words, unlike Pump.fun where anyone can participate by tapping quickly to fight the dog, participation in the new token launch on Virtuals is conditional; and this condition is essentially determined by prior contributions, which to some extent curbs the rush for tokens at the opening.

Specifically, on some previous platforms for new token offerings, snipers relied on high-speed scripts to purchase low-priced tokens, while scientists could dominate the majority of shares through bulk wallets and bidding on Gas fees. Retail investors sometimes haven't even finished loading the trading interface, and the token price has already doubled.

If you want to participate in "new token offerings", you need to understand how to set Gas fees, monitor contract deployment, and even get up in the middle of the night to keep an eye on on-chain dynamics. Average players lack the skills and energy for this, and in the end, they can only watch technical experts reap the rewards while they struggle to get by.

The Genesis Launch, on the other hand, seems relatively laid-back and gentle; you don't have to frantically speed up your hands during the new listing, but instead, it has changed to a different logic:

Want to participate in the new AI token? Then contribute to the Virtuals ecosystem first and accumulate enough points before talking.

How can points be earned? For example, by holding $VIRTUAL tokens, staking other tokens, or contributing content to help promote Virtuals, etc. The following text will also specifically introduce this logic.

But overall, the effect caused by the Genesis Launch is that it has simplified the "new investment" process to the extreme.

You only need to hold the $VIRTUAL token, accumulate enough points, and then pledge these two things within the 24-hour new coin presale window. The system will automatically calculate the share of new coins you can receive.

Detailed Explanation of Points Gameplay

Next, let's take a closer look at the Genesis Launch points allocation mechanism.

First of all, how do points come?

The official provides three ways to earn points:

• Invest in other Agents in the Virtuals ecosystem, currently there are two main categories: Sentient (Emotional AI Agents) and Prototype (Prototype AI Agent ). This essentially involves using Virtuals to purchase some existing AI Agent tokens from the previous ecosystem, and after the purchase, the points equal cashback, which you can then use to participate in the Genesis Launch on the platform.

• Buy and hold Virtuals tokens directly. This doesn't need much introduction, it's like holding coins to earn points, similar to a loyalty reward.
• Staking $VADER tokens. VADER is also the token of Vader AI, an AI Agent project within the Virtuals ecosystem. Holding this token for staking allows you to earn points to participate in new offerings, essentially supporting the Vader AI project. The author believes this sets a leading example for ecosystem support, as the staking rules are not fixed and other projects may also become eligible for "staking rewards points" in the future.

It is important to note that this points system is dynamically updated every day.

Virtuals will distribute a certain total amount of points every day to players who meet the above three types of behaviors, according to different allocation ratios, to incentivize their contributions to the ecosystem.

From the perspective of allocation ratios, purchasing other AI Agents within the ecosystem accounts for 75% of the points distribution weight; direct holding of tokens accounts for about 20%, while the remaining 5% is allocated to the staking of VADER tokens.

This may also partly explain why the tokens in the Virtuals ecosystem, as well as the VIRTUALS token itself, have experienced a significant surge in the last week or two.

After understanding the point rules, let's take a look at how the new AI token is issued.

The Genesis Launch uses a 24-hour presale window, with transparent allocation rules to prevent monopolization, as detailed below:

• Allocation Ratio: 37.5% of the total supply of new tokens is for presale, 12.5% is injected into the liquidity pool (such as the Sentient Agent pool), and the remaining 50% is for project development, finance, and marketing. The 37.5% for presale is the "big cake" that retail investors can grab.

• Dynamic allocation: During the 24-hour pre-sale window, the points you stake determine your share of the allocation. The more points, the more tokens you will get, but each person can only take up to 0.5% of the total supply, preventing large players from eating up the pool. The system calculates the proportion of each person in real time based on the total pool of all participants. For example, if 1,000 points are in a total pool of 100,000 points, you may get 1% of the pre-sale share.
• Refund mechanism: Unused $VIRTUAL and points from your pledge? Don't worry, the system will return them to you.

During the "new token launch" process of Genesis Launch, it is necessary to stake both points and $VIRTUAL tokens to compete for the allocation rights of the new AI tokens.

A simple process is as follows:

1. Hold $VIRTUAL: Buy $VIRTUAL tokens to prepare your "ticket".
2. Accumulate points: Obtain a certain number of points through the above three methods of point acquisition.
3. Staking Participation: After the new token presale begins, within a 24-hour window on the Virtuals official website, stake your points and $VIRTUAL. The system will estimate the amount of $VIRTUAL required to stake.
4. Waiting for Allocation: After the presale ends, the system calculates your share based on the total points pool, and the new tokens will be credited directly to your account. Any unused $VIRTUAL and points will be refunded.
5. Claim or trade: After receiving the new tokens, you can hold them or trade them on a DEX.

Points are your "priority certificates" for participating in "new token allocation," determining how much of the new tokens you can receive. The more points you have, the higher the distribution ratio (but the maximum for each person is 0.5% of the total supply of new tokens).

It is important to note that points will be consumed when participating in the pre-sale. The points allocated to you from Virtuals will also expire after a certain period if you do not use them, so it is also encouraging you to invest points to participate in new listings.

The Virtuals token itself is the cost you invest when participating in a new offering. The system will also provide recommendations on the number of Virtuals tokens you need to invest based on the points you contribute. The logic here is:

1. The more points you have, the higher the limit of tokens you can obtain from new listings.
2. With fewer points, investing more in Virtuals for new listings is not very meaningful.
3. Prevent monopolies, a wallet can invest a maximum of 566 Virtuals for new token offerings, and there is also a 1% transaction tax.

What should you do if you don't have enough points and don't want to buy old assets?

Virtuals has also launched its own Yaps mechanism, allowing players to earn points through content contribution and promotion, providing more options for those who want to participate in new projects at a low cost.

Launch new assets and activate old assets

Experience tells us that when designing mechanisms around crypto assets, we cannot think one step at a time; it is best to achieve multiple benefits with one effort.

The gameplay of Genesis Launch is obvious, which is to revitalize the old assets while creating new assets.

In the Virtuals ecosystem, established AI tokens (such as Luna and AIXBT) already have their own market stories.

As the AI Agent craze cools down, the trading volume and community enthusiasm for these old coins have undoubtedly experienced a significant decline compared to before.

This wave requires points to subscribe to new assets, and points must be obtained by purchasing old assets. This design increases the demand for old assets through new rules for creating assets, thereby driving up the prices of old assets.

At the same time, the price of the new assets on Virtuals is quietly rising, with not many people participating at the moment.

For example, the BasisOS token, which was born through this Genesis Launch, has reached a market capitalization of 5.5 M in just 12 days since its launch, increasing 40 times from its initial launch.

! Virtuals returns to $1 billion, learn more about Genesis Launch's new model

Under the circumstances where the Virtuals technology and narrative background have not changed significantly, this kind of "new bringing old" approach at the asset issuance level can indeed stir a certain degree of waves in the recently dull market.

And if you look back at the broader environment, you will find that the previously popular AI Agent tokens have all experienced a certain degree of rebound.

So, the narrative of AI Agent may not have truly collapsed, but rather is in urgent need of new asset issuance methods; the leading projects from the last cycle are also actively seeking self-rescue, expanding through more methods to rekindle the enthusiasm of the market.

Everyone's thinking seems to be similar; AI16Z on the Solana ecosystem also appears to be doing something similar by creating a new asset launchpad called Auto.fun. Then, through rule design, it generates economic incentives that create demand for the AI16Z token, thereby driving price changes of older coins.

When "new coins bring old ones" becomes a new gameplay for this round of AI Agent platforms, a better approach for us is to treat old coins as Beta, actively seeking new Alpha in this relatively relaxed market environment.