Onchain Gaias explained: Why it is the most promising NFT in the past six months

Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless; Translator: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

The Base NFT scene is still wide open. Now is the perfect time for NFT collectibles to rise and become L2's dominant profile picture (PFP) project.

What is the most promising collectible in the next six months? In my opinion, it's Onchain Gaias.

Onchain Gaias is not just your average PFP project - it already has a cult following, and it's developing at the intersection of AI, gaming, and Farcaster in a way that has never been seen before in the crypto space.

With the series' art showcase coming soon, and as its AI work continues to advance, now is a good time to take a closer look at these super PFPs.

Here's everything you need to know about these promising Base NFTs!

What is Onchain Gaias?

Led by Ciniz and artist Anton Marrast, Onchain Gaias will launch via Warpcast in March 2024 with the issuance of 5,556 free passes, dubbed "Golden Tickets to Degen".

These passes will be redeemable for Onchain Gaias PFP at a 1:1 ratio upon completion of the upcoming artwork.

Initially, excitement was mainly about the prospect of a new top-tier Base series, with anticipation growing quickly as creators began teasing game development in advance.

A month after launch, Gaias’ floor price peaked at 1.25 ETH after the team released its initial whitepaper, confirming the game plan and an ambitious decentralized AI training system centered around games.

After a pre-launch slump and a small NFT bull run on Base this spring, the series has cooled somewhat. Still, it remains the most traded of all NFT series on Base by far, facilitating 4,000 ETH worth of trades, and with volumes increasing, it remains one of the most traded projects on L2.

How Onchain Gaias Works

While Onchain Gaias’ development is still in its early stages, the project has already released two white papers that spell out its plans for the future.

The first white paper, released in April 2024, introduced the basic concepts of Onchain Gaias and outlined the core vision and mechanisms of the project, centered around the General Artificial Intelligence Agent (GAIA) and its role in decentralized AI development.

In short, the white paper proposes a network that can train AI models through games, leveraging blockchain technology for transparency and security. It also outlines the basics of a modular game engine system and an AI model marketplace.

The second white paper, published in May 2024, builds on these initial concepts and introduces more detailed plans and innovations, such as the Onchain Universal Intelligence Network and the Armory Marketplace (Intelligence as a Service) and Foundry Marketplace (Transfer Learning as a Service) platforms.

The second white paper also explains the incentive and governance plans and makes it clear that only Onchain Gaias NFT holders can create and profit from cloned AI agents in this new ecosystem.

What is the first Onchain Gaias game?

Currently, the Onchain Gaias team is in the initial "experiment and see the effect" phase of its gaming ecosystem. To this end, it has launched its first initial training game in Henlo Kart.

Henlo Kart, fully deployed in the Farcaster Frame on Warpcast, is a racing game designed to train original AI agents on-chain through user interaction.

In short, players bet, gain experience points (XP), and level up, all of which contribute to the potential of the AI ​​agent. In addition, players will also receive a currently undisclosed token allocation in future releases.

As the Onchain Gaias team continues to iterate, more optimized versions of Henlo Kart are expected to be launched, as well as more complex and community-built games, further expanding the functionality and possibilities of GAIA.

What to watch for in the future?

Onchain Gaias is a unique project right now, but it’s also only just beginning to delve into its ambitious development plans, so the project still has a lot of work to do to realize its full vision.

That being said, there are some big open questions worth keeping an eye on in the future if you’re interested in following the team’s progress. The 10 main questions that come to mind right now are as follows:

How will the community and market react to the final art display of the Onchain Gaias PFP?

How effective will Henlo Kart and subsequent games be in attracting players and training AI agents?

What other projects might integrate GAIA once there are many trained and more complex agents?

Does the upcoming unnamed token hint at a new fungible utility token for the broader Onchain Gaias ecosystem?

How will any added token economics impact player engagement, agent training, and overall market dynamics?

How will continued advancements in Farcaster’s tools impact the overall growth and innovation of the platform?

Will the planned rewards mechanism be enough to sustain long-term participation?

How will the Armory and Foundry markets develop, and what types of AI models will gain the most traction?

As Onchain Gaias’ on-chain infrastructure needs increase, will it release its own L3 on top of Base?

Can Onchain Gaias match or exceed the training efficiency and intelligence levels of well-known AI agents in the public domain?

Why Onchain Gaias is Important

Onchain Gaias has the potential to become the most dominant PFP project on Base for the foreseeable future, but its prospects are bigger than your average PFP project. The fusion of AI, Farcaster, and gaming creates a unique value proposition that goes beyond your average digital collectible.

Long story short, by enabling everyday users to participate in AI training through fun games, Onchain Gaias is not only building a digital art collection, but also fostering a community-driven platform that could have a significant impact at the intersection of AI and blockchain technology. If you're looking for Base projects to explore, this should definitely be one of your shortlist!