Without a doubt, the current main narrative in the Base ecosystem remains AI. But to be more specific, it's the "VVV" ecosystem.

Before introducing the tokens related to the "VVV" concept, let's first understand what "VVV" actually is.

What is the "VVV" Concept?

$VVV is the token of Venice, a privacy-focused, censorship-resistant generative AI platform built on the Base ecosystem, led by Erik Voorhees.

Erik is an OG who has been involved in cryptocurrency since 2011. He played a key role in early Bitcoin adoption. After the Mt. Gox collapse, he founded ShapeShift, one of the earliest trading platforms emphasizing non-custodial and privacy-first principles. His expertise in decentralized finance and user sovereignty makes him a strong advocate for permissionless AI.

According to the Venice API user count chart released by Erik Voorhees in March this year, the number of Venice API users grew from nearly zero to 15,000 throughout 2025.

However, the corresponding price performance of $VVV has been lukewarm. Occasional rebounds have at most pushed its market cap to around $200 million, and it once fell below $45 million, far from its all-time high of approximately $1 billion shortly after its launch.

It can also be observed that entering 2026, the number of Venice API users experienced rapid growth. This is largely attributed to the explosive popularity of OpenClaw. Due to its privacy-focused positioning, Venice was once highlighted and recommended in the model provider section of the OpenClaw official documentation.

Although this highlight was later removed, 2026 has been a year of rapid growth for Venice. According to data disclosed by Erik Voorhees, by March of this year, Venice's total user base exceeded 2 million, paid subscribers reached 55,000, monthly revenue hit $835,000, with a monthly growth rate of 15%.

Correspondingly, $VVV has been on a continuous rise. Since the beginning of 2026, $VVV has increased over 9-fold.

$VVV / $DIEM

We previously covered the growth in Venice's exposure and user numbers this year, which provides a macro narrative reason for the price increase. However, as a crypto AI project with a token, its price appreciation is also closely tied to the token's own mechanism.

Since the beginning of this year, the annual emission of $VVV has been reduced multiple times, from 8 million tokens per year down to 5 million. By July 1st, the annual emission will be further cut to 3 million tokens. The official goal is to achieve net deflation for $VVV, ensuring that the burn amount exceeds the emission amount, thereby guaranteeing native yield for $VVV.

The initial total supply of $VVV was 100 million tokens. The current total token supply is approximately 79.9 million, of which 42.22% (about 33.73 million) of the current supply has already been burned.

The burning of $VVV is linked to Venice's subscription revenue. At the end of April, Venice allocated more subscription revenue to token buybacks. For each new Pro subscription ($18), $2 is used to buy back and burn $VVV. The Pro+ subscription ($68) and Max subscription ($200) correspond to $5 and $10 in buyback burns, respectively.

The current circulating supply is approximately 46 million tokens. Additionally, about 8.85 million tokens are still locked, and around 32.47 million tokens are staked.

What's particularly interesting is the utility of the $VVV token. Compared to the awkward situation many crypto projects face where "token rights are useless compared to equity rights," $VVV offers a very intriguing solution.

On the basis of continuously controlling token supply, staking $VVV not only earns more $VVV (benefiting from emission reductions) but also grants the right to mint $DIEM using the staked token, $sVVV.

$DIEM can either be traded or staked. Staking 1 $DIEM corresponds to $1 worth of Venice API credit per day.

This credit refreshes daily; if used up today, it renews tomorrow, permanently valid. $1 worth of Venice API credit can accomplish quite a lot, as Venice itself outlined:

Staking 1 $DIEM grants daily free usage of Venice for the above tasks

However, one must consider that the price of 1 $DIEM has skyrocketed to $1,500. Minting 1 $DIEM requires approximately 756 $sVVV, costing roughly $12,800. Whether it's worthwhile, Venice calculates the math like this:

Overall, the economic structure of $VVV/$DIEM, combined with Venice's regulatory mechanism, gives $VVV a distinct "tech stock" flavor while retaining unique crypto characteristics:

- On the supply side, reducing emissions prevents excessive dilution of token value (also prevents dilution of $VVV dividends for stakers).

- Subscription revenue is used for token buybacks.

- Staked $VVV can be used to mint $DIME, giving the token practical utility within the product through $DIME.

- However, exercising this utility comes at a cost: $VVV used to mint $DIME only receives 80% of the dividends ($VVV staking rewards).

- DeFi operations are possible on-chain, such as staking $VVV to get $DIEM, then selling $DIEM to buy more $VVV. There are even community projects like @cheaptokensAI that enable selling the daily credit from $DIEM without selling the token itself, providing another way to profit.

$POD

Since May, $POD has surged over 12-fold at its peak, with its market cap rising from approximately $7.8 million to briefly exceeding $100 million.

$POD is the token for Dolphin's distributed AI inference and training network. In simple terms, it utilizes idle GPUs for "mining," providing computing power to those needing AI compute services and earning $POD rewards in return.

However, the hype around $POD is not solely due to this network itself, but rather another aspect of Dolphin's business – AI models. Venice's current default model, Venice Uncensored 1.2, was jointly developed by Dolphin and Venice, evolving from the Dolphin Mistral 24B Venice Edition.

Therefore, while $POD is officially only the token for Dolphin's distributed AI inference and training network, it is currently being heavily traded as the primary investment vehicle for Dolphin.

$cyb3rwr3n

This project claims to build a USDC-based auction market for Venice usage credits. However, it is considered part of the "VVV" concept primarily because some traders, after analyzing the correlation between on-chain behavior and tweets, believe this project is highly related to Venice founder Erik Voorhees.

The official Venice Twitter account has already clarified this speculation, stating that cyb3rwr3n is not an official Venice project.

Following this news last month, the token price dropped by about 50%, but a few days ago it hit a new all-time high. The official clarification has not completely dispelled market speculation. Based on discussions among some traders, Erik Voorhees was the first follower of the cyb3rwr3n official Twitter account, and other Venice team members like co-founder @TeanaTaylor, CTO @jesseproudman, and product lead @willyogo also follow the account. They believe that even if Venice is not officially associated, this level of interaction signals significant endorsement.

Indeed, this is currently one of the cheaper tokens associated with the "VVV" concept, with a market cap of only $4 million. However, the low price has a reason: its product hasn't launched yet, and currently, it can only be considered a meme coin.

$SR

STRIKEROBOT.AI is a full-stack embodied intelligence platform building humanoid robot frameworks for physical AI Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), focusing on safety in hazardous environments (nuclear power plants, high-voltage facilities, radiation zones, etc.).

They have a robot training and simulation platform called SR Platform, and $SR is its native token. The project's connection to Venice stems from an announcement on May 7th, detailing a joint development to build a VLM inference layer designed for robots, supported by funding from Venice.

Since the start of May, $SR has increased approximately 4-fold, with a current market cap of around $9 million.