A quick overview of Virtuals' three proxy publishing mechanisms: Pegasus, Unicorn, and Titan.
Original author: Virtuals Protocol
Original article translated by: Deep Tide TechFlow
The single release model can no longer meet the needs.
The Virtuals Protocol was created to support builders, not to confine them to a single path. As the proxy market continues to evolve, so too does our publishing mechanism.
In 2024, our focus was on validating the viability of the proxy market itself. Early prototype releases prioritized speed and experimentation, aiming to verify whether proxies could exist on-chain, trade publicly, and begin to coordinate real-world economic value. The goal at this stage was not optimization, but exploration.
By 2025, the focus had shifted to "fair access." We introduced the Genesis model to ensure fairness at scale, allowing everyone to participate through contribution rather than capital. This model successfully democratized the launch and established transparency. However, its limitations have become increasingly apparent over time: fairness alone cannot strengthen conviction, and the lack of built-in funding pathways makes it difficult for high-quality builders to sustain long-term development.
The Unicorn model emerged as a solution to the aforementioned problems. It refocuses the system on "belief," rewarding early trust and providing asymmetric returns by linking funding to performance. For builders seeking financial support and public accountability, the Unicorn model has indeed achieved its intended effect. However, as the ecosystem matures, it has become clear that different builders face different challenges.
Startups need distribution channels, teams in the growth stage need capital, and teams that have already gained credibility and launched on a large scale need a clear market entry path.
A single release model cannot meet all needs.
Image: Pegasus (left), Titan (middle), Unicorn (right)
We are proud to introduce Pegasus, Unicorn, and Titan. These three mechanisms together form a unified proxy deployment framework that supports early experimentation, belief-based growth, and large-scale deployments, while maintaining shared liquidity, unified ownership, and a coherent ecosystem.
Comparison of release mechanisms
Image translation: Gemini
How to choose the correct launch mechanism? Pegasus: Distribution-first, unbiased allocation.
Pegasus is designed for early builders who want to launch quickly, test ideas, and gain credibility through actual use rather than prioritizing token allocation. It prioritizes distribution and community building while keeping the launch structure lightweight.
Pegasus does not include any team allocation or automated fundraising mechanisms reserved by the protocol. Almost all token supply is allocated to liquidity, with only a small amount reserved for ecosystem airdrops. Founders who wish to hold tokens must purchase them themselves under the same market conditions as everyone else, ensuring that token holdings are earned through actual performance rather than pre-allocation.
Pegasus achieves a transparent price discovery mechanism through a bonding curve, automatically transitioning to Uniswap once a threshold is reached. Pegasus effectively answers a core question: Does the market truly need this broker?
Unicorn: Beliefs, Capital, and Accountability
Unicorn is designed for builders who want to raise significant capital without sacrificing consistency. It introduces a structure that rewards conviction and reinforces accountability while maintaining open participation.
All Unicorn launches begin in a small-scale, open model, with no pre-sales, whitelisting, or restricted allocations. An anti-sniper mechanism prevents bots from dominating early trading, transforming initial volatility into protocol-native buybacks to enhance liquidity.
Unicorn's core feature is Automated Capital Formation (ACP). A portion of the team's tokens is automatically and transparently sold only after the project achieves real market appeal, with proceeds ranging from a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $2 million to $160 million. Founders do not receive funding until the project proves its market value; instead, they earn funding through market recognition.
Unicorn gives ownership real meaning by linking earnings, funding, and reputation directly to performance, rather than through promises.
Titan: Large-scale structured releases tailored for trusted teams
Titan is designed for teams that already have a clear foundation in terms of credibility, scale, and capital requirements. Titan releases are suitable for projects that have already reached a high baseline of readiness.
This typically includes teams with existing products, proven track records, institutional backing, or a clear real-world deployment path. Because these teams don't require early market validation, Titan doesn't rely on binding curves, phased discovery, or protocol-mandated distribution mechanisms.
The Titan launch requires a minimum valuation of $50 million and a minimum of 500,000 USDC of $VIRTUAL paired with liquidity during the Initial Token Generation (TGE) event. This requirement ensures market depth, reduces volatility due to insufficient liquidity, and aligns the Titan launch with builders prepared for large-scale operations.
Titan's transaction tax is fixed at 1%. Token economics, vesting plans, and distribution structures are fully defined by the founding team, but must comply with standard protocols and compliance constraints.
Teams choosing Titan need to invest capital upfront and accept expectations of greater transparency, liquidity, and long-term involvement in the Virtuals ecosystem. In return, they gain clear market entry or migration pathways, deep initial liquidity, and immediate legitimacy without artificial restrictions.
Titan exists to support agency projects that are ready to operate at an institutional or ecosystem scale.
Titan Migration
Titan also supports the migration of existing proxy tokens to the Virtuals ecosystem. This path is suitable for projects that already have active tokens, existing holders, or existing liquidity and wish to achieve deeper integration with the Virtuals stack, including $VIRTUAL liquidity, ACP compatibility, and long-term ecosystem consistency.
The Titan migration follows the same baseline requirements as the Titan launch, including a minimum implied valuation of $50 million and a liquidity pairing of at least 500,000 USDC to $VIRTUAL. These requirements ensure market depth during the migration, minimize disruption to existing holders, and maintain consistency during large-scale integration.
The Road to the Future
The proxy market is still evolving. As it evolves, Virtuals Protocol is also constantly evolving.
Each release mechanism in Virtuals is based on our experience gained from builder practices and real-world market behavior. Early prototypes taught us how agents are created; the Genesis pattern showed how fairness scales; and the Unicorn pattern demonstrated how beliefs align with capital formation. Pegasus, Unicorn, and Titan are a synthesis of these experiences, building a flexible yet unbreakable system.
This framework is not static, but designed to adapt as agents mature, builder needs change, and the agent economy expands into new areas. Our goal is not to lock builders into a particular model, but to ensure that the right model is delivered at the right time, without sacrificing liquidity, ownership, or ecosystem coherence.
By listening, iterating carefully, and releasing publicly, Virtuals Protocol continues to set the standard for the release, growth, and integration of proxies.
There is never a single path to proxy publishing.
The only correct approach is to adapt to the current market demands and maintain the self-discipline to evolve as the market changes.
– aGDP
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