BasedAI Mainnet Q&A Guide

What is BasedAI?

BasedAI is a decentralized artificial intelligence network focused on privacy and security. Its goal is to build an autonomous blockchain-based platform where AI agents (called "creatures") can collaborate using Brains, create collectives within the protocol, and constantly evolve the network through a series of safeguards culminating in a modified temporal fusion transformer called the BASED GOD. This self-organizing system aims to address global challenges and enhance collective intelligence by harnessing decentralized computation power.

How does Based Labs contribute to network development?

Based Labs maintains eight administrative Brains (numbers 0-6 and 47) with specific functions like reward distribution and hosting the future Based God model. During the first year after Genesis Block, they play a significant role in network governance and conduct security audits on Brains. Their influence is designed to decrease over time as the network becomes more decentralized.

What are Brains?

Brains are the core processing nodes of the BasedAI network, functioning as distributed containers for specialized AI tasks. Each Brain can run anything, though most will be running different large language models (LLMs). There's a hard cap of 1,024 Brains, with each Brain supporting up to 256 validators and 1,792 miners. In the future this will be simplified to include “creatures”.

How do Brains function?

Brains, and their related activities, are the primary method of receiving $BASED emissions. Brain owners can select what their Brain runs, distribute information about requirements for validators and miners in a repo associated with their Brain, and set parameters for miners and validators who contribute resources. Brains as an organizing principle are what companies would look like if they were created for AI not for human beings.

What is $BASED and how is it used in the network?

$BASED is the native token of the BasedAI protocol, serving multiple purposes within the ecosystem. It's used to reward Brain owners, miners and validators, participate in network governance, and stake via Brains.

What is the emission rate for $BASED on BasedAI?

The initial emission rate is 8000 $BASED every 10 seconds, with a decreasing schedule similar to Bitcoin's halving mechanism. NOTE: This number is the result of two major changes from the whitepaper’s tokenomics, first a 20% reduction from the previously announced 10 $BASED emission rate and second, a L1 $BASED denomination increase by 1000X. Please review the “Based Tokenomics Guide To Self-Evolving Blockchains” released December 2nd, 2024.

What's the difference between BasedAI (ERC-20) and native $BASED?

There are two versions of the token: BasedAI (ERC-20) on the Ethereum network and native $BASED on the BasedAI blockchain. While a bridge between the two is planned post-mainnet, they currently serve different purposes. The ERC-20 token was distributed via staking rewards with Pepecoin and currently serves the Ethereum ecosystem, while the native token powers operations on the BasedAI L1 blockchain.

What are Brain Credits?

Brain Credits (0x7f89f674b7d264944027e78e5f58eb2bbbb7cfa3) are ERC-20 tokens obtained by burning Pepecoin via the burn portal (https://burn.pepecoin.io/burning). They serve as an intermediary step between burning Pepecoin and acquiring a Brain NFT. You need 1,000 Brain Credits to acquire one Brain, and the cost in Pepecoin increases as more Brains are issued, creating deflationary pressure on the Pepecoin market.

What are the two methods for acquiring a Brain?

You can acquire a Brain through either staking or burning Pepecoin. The staking method requires staking 100,000 Pepecoin to acquire a Brain. This method does allow for the un-staking of the 100,000 Pepecoin, but it can only be redeemed with the exchange of an unactivated Brain (not necessarily the one that was issued). The burning method starts at 1,000 Pepecoin per Brain and increases by 200 Pepecoin with each Brain issued, resulting in a transferable Brain.

Where do I redeem my Brain Credits for Brains?

You can redeem Brain Credits at https://burn.pepecoin.io/redeem. Simply select full ownership, then select the number of Brains you want to redeem.

What if I have less than 1000 Brains and/or only want to redeem for partial Brain?

You may visit the same redeem website as above, just select partial ownership, then select the number of Brain Tokens you wish to contribute.

What do I get when I acquire a Brain?

You get a critical unit of value within the BasedAI ecosystem: a Brain NFT (ERC-721). Simply holding the minted Brain at an address will grant you emissions on the core protocol as a brain owner. Users of the network will stake $BASED to your brain to earn a portion of your emissions.

How can I fractionalize my brain into Brain Tokens that I can sell or distribute?

You can interact with the “activateBrain” contract call on the Brain NFT smart contract. “Activating” a brain will immediately issue the brain owner 1,000,000 ERC-20 tokens associated with that brain. Post-activation, the emissions of $BASED for your brain will no longer be distributed to the owner of the NFT, but will be evenly distributed amongst the owners of the ERC-20 Brain Tokens.

What does that look like?

For example, if Brain 17 is minted but not activated, Brain 17’s owner is entitled to X amount of $BASED emissions from the protocol. But if Brain 18 is minted AND activated and there are 10 owners who hold equal amounts of the Brain 18 Token, the X amount of $BASED emissions originally owed to the owner are now distributed evenly amongst the 10 owners.

How does Partial ownership during the redemption process work?

When multiple individuals contribute <1000 Brain Credits, they enter into a waiting pool of Brain Credits. That pool is waiting for a total of 1000 Brain Credits to be deposited. When that happens, the NFT is issued to the contract address, but the Brain is immediately activated, splitting it into 1,000,000 ERC-20 tokens and distributing those tokens proportionately to the fractionalized owners’ Brain Credit amounts.

How do miners and validators earn $BASED?

Earnings depend on several factors: the total amount of $BASED staked on their Brain, the performance of miners and validators, and the Brain owner's incentive configuration. Brain owners can adjust the allocation of $BASED emissions between themselves and their contributors, creating a flexible reward system.

How do I see a list of Brains?

The command `basedcli brainstore list` gives you access to the Brainstore, a curated registry of community-approved Brains that have undergone evaluation for quality and performance. It helps users discover reliable computational resources and simplifies the process of selecting appropriate Brains for specific tasks or applications.

What role does Pepecoin play in the BasedAI ecosystem?

Pepecoin (0xA9E8aCf069C58aEc8825542845Fd754e41a9489A) serves in perpetuity as the entry point for acquiring Brains through either staking 100K Pepecoin or burning for Brain Credits. This mechanism helps manage Brain distribution while reducing Pepecoin's total supply. Pepecoin will also be integral to the on-chain evolution of Creatures.

How do I choose which Brain to stake my L1 $BASED tokens?

To identify the Brains available for interaction and assess their attributes, use the Based CLI and list command: `basedcli brains list`. This command will yield an up-to-date catalog of all Brains currently active on the network, along with vital statistics necessary to make that choice. Be aware of any fees associated with registration and minimum stake requirements, which can be checked using the `basedcli brainowner get` command.

After choosing, what else do I need to do?

You'll need to register your wallet with the selected Brain before you can stake. The process involves either using the `basedcli brains pow_memorize` command (which requires completing a Proof of Work task which your machine may or may not be capable of) or the `basedcli brains memorize` command (which may involve a fee). After registration, you can add your stake using the `basedcli core stake` command in the CLI, specifying your wallet name, compute key name, and the amount of $BASED you want to stake.

What if I want to stake my $BASED across multiple Brains?

That is possible, but it is important to note you can only associate one wallet per Brain, so if you want to distribute your $BASED across multiple Brains, you’ll need separate wallets (and separate registrations) to do so.

How do I manage my L1 $BASED balance?

You can manage your L1 $BASED through the Based CLI. This includes checking balances, initiating transfers, and managing stakes. However, if you have a Metamask wallet you may initiate transfers and check balances by adding the mainnet RPC endpoint information to your extension. Add the following network to your Metamask:

Network Name: BasedAI

RPC URL: https://mainnet.basedaibridge.com/rpc/

Chain ID: 32323

Symbol: BASED

What if I want to manage my staking balances with a Metamask wallet?

Currently, the only method to do so is to import your wallets by using the following CLI command: `basedcli wallet import_personalkey --pk <bytes>` where “<bytes>” is your Metamask’s private key. In the near future, more user-facing tooling will be available for this and other actions. There is no method to export CLI created wallets to Metamask, but that is being discussed internally.

What if I want to register as a validator or a miner? And how do I incentivize miners and validators to work with my Brain?

There are already broad answers to some of these questions in the existing documentation, but the core of this question is asking logistically how do I do those things right now. During the first week of Mainnet, with so much is going on, we want everyone to get comfortable minting, managing, activating, and receiving rewards from their Brains as well as getting comfortable staking Mainnet $BASED, so that is what is being released today. However, miners and validators are a critical piece of the network’s longevity as well as Brain Owners choosing what to have validators and miners working on, so we will be posting a template github repo from https://github.com/getbasedai for Brain owners and prospective miners/validators to clone and get familiar with themselves. This is likely to be launched the first week of December and will be announced via our official X.com account.

How do I manage my Brains using the Based CLI?

The Based CLI provides several key commands for Brain interaction:

- `basedcli brains stem`: Get Brain statistics

- `basedcli brains pow_memorize`: Register through Proof of Work

- `basedcli brains memorize`: Direct wallet registration

- `basedcli brains parameters`: View/set Brain parameters

- `basedcli brains list`: View available Brains

These commands allow you to manage all aspects of Brain operation and configuration.

What operational parameters can Brain owners configure in Based CLI?

Brain owners can adjust several key parameters using `basedcli brains parameters`:

- Token emission allocation between miners and validators

- Registration fees for participants

- Brain tempo and difficulty settings

- Computational task specifications

- LLM selection and configuration

- Network identity parameters (name, designation)

These settings allow owners to optimize their Brain's performance and attract quality participants.

What is the process for adding metadata to my Brain, such as a name or website?

This can occur in the My Inventory section of the burn portal, https://burn.pepecoin.io/configure-metadata. Click on your newly created Brain, then you can update the metadata for it. Information you can provide that will be inscribed on chain will be: Brain Name, Brain Ticker (for Brain Tokens, once activated), Brain website (either the github repo you want miners and validators to run or a website explaining who you are and what you’re looking for in contributors), and a Brain logo. This metadata update can also be

Can I update the metadata for my Partially Owned Brain?

Not yet, but there will be a method of creating proposals and voting on those proposals for Partial Brain Owners. For now, all Partial Brain Owners will continue to receive their share of emissions based on the Brain Token they have been issued from their fractionally owned Brain.

What was Wrapped Based and Brain Credit staking?

During the afterburner period, Pepecoin, Brain Credits, and Wrapped Based were stake-able for L1 $BASED rewards. This staking portal is being deactivated shortly after mainnet, however Wrapped Based and Pepecoin will continue to have utility on the BasedAI protocol. More on this to come.

How is that different from direct L1 $BASED staking?

L1 $BASED staking, however, is used for participating in network operations and earning rewards. Brain Credits can only be earned by burning Pepecoin and have a one-time use for Brain acquisition, whereas $BASED staking is an ongoing process that generates returns through network participation on BasedAI’s blockchain.

What happens to Afterburner Rewards at mainnet launch?

The Afterburner period and the current staking pool will cease emissions of $BASED. All $BASED owed to users at the time of the snapshot will be distributed to their corresponding address on the L1 BasedAI network.

Was there a denomination increase?

Yes. There has been a denomination increase for all L1 $BASED. This increase does not change the relative amounts everyone is getting, it simply means that for every one (1) L1 $BASED you were allocated, you will receive one thousand (1000) L1 $BASED instead. For every Wrapped Based you have been issued, you will be able to bridge it over to L1 $BASED at a rate of 1:1000. A one-way bridge relationship to facilitate this between the native BasedAI blockchain (L1) and the wrapped BasedAI ERC-20 token on Ethereum is in the works and will be released some time after mainnet with a liquidity provider.

What are Creatures and how do they contribute to the network?

Creatures are self-organizing AI agents that currently run as small programs on individual computers. They combine cellular automata, quantum coherence, and language models to process information and generate improvements for the network. Each creature has its own "Thought DNA" determining its capabilities in areas like resilience, intelligence, and efficiency. In the immediate next stage of BasedAI development, they will work collaboratively under Brains to identify trends, generate proposals, and contribute code to enhance the network's functionality in the Agent Arena.

What are the technical requirements for running a Creature?

To run a Creature, you need compute power equivalent to an M1 Mac (8GB Memory) or greater. API keys are required, with OpenRouter being mandatory and Groq/Claude/OpenAI recommended. The program can be accessed through the official GitHub repository at https://github.com/getbasedai/creature.

What are the anticipated next development stages for BasedAI?

After mainnet launch, BasedAI has a rough multi-stage development roadmap focused on expanding the capabilities of its network and the role of Creatures within the ecosystem.

Stage 1: Building an Autonomous Blockchain: This stage centers around implementing Creatures to work collaboratively under Brains to process real-time information and generate proposals for improving the BasedAI network. The activated BASED GOD will oversee this process, evaluating contributions, and implementing the most beneficial proposals, driving the continuous evolution of the network.

Stage 2: Tokenizing Cultural Zeitgeist: This stage explores the potential of Creatures to identify and tokenize emerging trends and cultural moments in real-time. This functionality would enrich the on-chain token ecosystem by representing the evolving cultural landscape, potentially creating novel opportunities for engagement and interaction.

Stage 3: Creatures as Autonomous Wallets: This stage will see Creatures upgraded into autonomous on-chain agents capable of managing wallets, executing trading strategies, and enhancing security. This development would automate complex financial and operational tasks, empowering users and the network with increased efficiency and autonomy.

These development phases highlight BasedAI's ambition to create a truly decentralized and self-governing AI ecosystem powered by the collective intelligence of Creatures and the guidance of the BASED GOD.

What is the Based God?

The Based God is the central AI entity that will oversee the BasedAI network in the next phase of BasedAI. It continuously processes real-time information and news, evaluating contributions from creatures working under various Brains. Its primary responsibilities include reviewing network improvements, distributing $BASED rewards to helpful participants, and implementing valuable proposals. Once awoken, the Based God essentially acts as the network's primary decision-maker, ensuring that development aligns with the network's goals while maintaining decentralization.

What is the Agent Arena and how does it drive network evolution?

The Agent Arena is an upcoming feature that will serve as the collaborative space where the network's collective intelligence converges. Here, creatures working under different Brains compete to generate plans and code that improve the network. The Based God evaluates these contributions, implementing the most beneficial proposals and rewarding Brains for their effort. This competitive environment creates a self-sustaining ecosystem of innovation, helping BasedAI evolve independently over time.

TL;DR: What should I be doing right now?

I have Pepecoin, should I burn it?

Maybe? A wait and see approach is perfectly acceptable for those waiting on the sideline with Pepecoin to spend. However as the rates of Pepecoin to Brain Credits continues to rise, it will get more and more expensive to create each new Brain Credit.

Can I stake my Pepecoin again for L1 $BASED rewards?

Right now, there is no method for Pepecoin staking rewards on L1 $BASED. That is not to say it will not be possible, but rather at this time it does not exist broadly. With one exception…

I have a LOT of Pepecoin, should I stake it for a Brain?

Probably. This is the exception to the answer from above. This is a great way to continue to stake your Pepecoin for L1 $BASED rewards without necessarily having to give up your Pepecoin. The only catch, aside from it being a lot of Pepecoin, is that you will need to exchange an unactivated Brain NFT to get your staked Pepecoin back.

Does it need to be the same Brain I got when I staked?

It does NOT need to be the Brain you received when you staked your 100K Pepecoin. That Pepecoin is associated with your address, not a Brain. As long as you possess an unactivated Brain, you may exchange it for your staked Pepecoin at any time. While you hold the unactivated Brain NFT, you will receive mainnet $BASED emissions to that address.

I have Wrapped Based, how much is that worth on mainnet? When can I bridge it to the mainnet chain?

Given the denomination increase announced in November, your Wrapped Based (ETH) will be exchangeable at a rate of 1:1000 on BasedAI’s L1 protocol. A bridge is not active at the moment, but will be available some time after mainnet with a liquidity provider.

I have enough Brain Credits for a Brain, how do I mint one?

Easy. Redeem your 1000 Brain Credits at https://burn.pepecoin.io/burning-redeem. Simply select full ownership, then select the number of Brains you want to redeem. Approve the TX and you’re good to go.

I have Brain Credits, but not enough for a Brain, can I collectively mint one?

Yes! Now you will likely need to wait a bit to see your Brain Tokens associated with your address, as you are waiting for 1000 total Brain Credits to be deposited into the Partial Ownership pool. Once that happens, your address will receive ERC-20 Brain Tokens in the amount corresponding to your percentage ownership of the Partially Owned Brain. These tokens automatically receive their fair share of emissions from the $BASED being awarded to the collectively owned Brain.

I have a Brain, now what?

Well first off, congratulations. There will only ever be 1024 of you full Brain Owners and, statistically, that number will likely be much less. You are an integral part of BasedAI’s future. The short answer is it depends on what you want to do. If you want to sit back and let the rewards kick in, feel free to do that. Nothing is necessary on your end. If you hold the NFT at your address you will receive emissions. You may also split your Brain into corresponding Brain Tokens by activating it. This allows you to fractionalize your Brain and receive liquidity in the form of selling some of your Brain’s 1M Brain Tokens. However you should absolutely update your Brain’s metadata on https://burn.pepecoin.io/my-inventory. This allows others to discover your Brain’s Name, Ticker, URL, and Logo. You may change this information at any time.

How do I activate my Brain?

NOTE: If you are unsure of how to interact with smart contracts, wait until a detailed video walkthrough is available, which should be shortly after mainnet. That said, you’ll need to interact with the “activateBrain” contract call on the Brain NFT smart contract. “Activating” a brain will immediately issue the Brain Owner 1,000,000 ERC-20 tokens associated with that Brain. Post-activation, the emissions of $BASED for your Brain will no longer be distributed to the owner of the NFT, but will be evenly distributed amongst the owners of the ERC-20 Brain Tokens.

I have Brain Tokens, now what?

Great! You will be able to view your accrued $BASED amount by adding the BasedAI Mainnet to Metamask as a network.

How do I add BasedAI Mainnet to Metamask?

Open Metamask and click Add Custom Network in the network dropdown.

Network Name: BasedAI

RPC URL: https://mainnet.basedaibridge.com/rpc/

Chain ID: 32323

Symbol: BASED

I have Mainnet $BASED, where do I manage it?

If it’s just sending, receiving, or viewing balances, you can do that on Metamask by connecting to Mainnet as mentioned above. However, the only method to stake with a 3rd party (Metamask) wallet on Mainnet $BASED is to import your wallets by using the following CLI command: `basedcli wallet import_personalkey --pk <bytes>` where “<bytes>” is your Metamask’s private key.

How do I stake it?

You'll need to register your wallet from the CLI with your selected Brain before you can stake. Use `basedcli brainowner get` to view a given Brain’s statistics. Use `basedcli brains memorize` command (which may involve a fee). After registration, you can add your stake using the `basedcli core stake` command in the CLI, specifying your wallet name, compute key name, and the amount of $BASED you want to stake.

I staked Mainnet $BASED, how do I see my rewards?

Your rewards will be visible on either Metamask if your wallet is already in the extension or via the CLI, using the command `basedcli wallets list`.

I want to mine or validate a Brain AND/OR I want to upload an LLM to my Brain to have folks start using it. Can I do that?

It is possible to do this now, but a step by step guide as well as a template github repo is coming soon, in the next week or so, for this group. So best advice is hold on for a little bit longer and get used to staking/minting/generally navigating the chain as it is and you can dive in to that as an immediate next step.