Decoding MIRAI: Web3 virtual human ecosystem endorsed by top virtual influencer Imma

Author: Zen, PANews

Internet celebrity virtual idol + AI + Web3, the combination of three hot tracks has made MIRAI a hot topic. It first raised more than 76,000 SOL (about 12.9 million US dollars) in excess in just one week, setting a fundraising record for Japanese Web3 projects, and then launched Binance Alpha on May 16, further enhancing the project's exposure. In addition, in order to expand the community's influence, the MIRAI team also actively contacted hot meme coin communities, including PNUT, MOODENG and NEIRO.

"MIRAI" was jointly launched by Aww Inc. and Holoworld, the AI platform of Solana ecosystem. The project itself is positioned as a Web3 attempt of virtual personality, proposing an unprecedented concept of virtual human + Web3 narrative. In layman's terms, it is to "chain" CGI virtual characters. According to the official introduction, the MIRAI project combines Aww Inc.'s professional experience in CG modeling and character design with Holoworld's blockchain infrastructure and AI technology, aiming to create a virtual character with autonomy and intelligent agent capabilities.

Is it a gimmick or innovation? How far can MIRAI, which is full of "hot spots", go?

Aww: Create the world's top virtual influencer imma and join hands with NVIDIA

Aww Inc. was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Tokyo. It is the first company in Asia to focus on "virtual human" technology. It is committed to combining 3DCG, artificial intelligence and live streaming to create highly realistic digital characters that can be used for brand marketing, content creation and metaverse applications. Officials said that the team not only provides virtual human technology licenses, but also promotes "global IP co-creation based on live streaming, content and AI." Aww claims to be the first to propose the concept of "virtual humans" in Asia and has launched dozens of such virtual images.

In terms of commercialization model, Aww Inc. has achieved diversified income through global licensing and brand co-branding. The most representative of these is the virtual model imma, which debuted in 2018. By the end of 2024, her Instagram followers have exceeded 400,000, and her TikTok followers have exceeded 480,000. Due to her "unique pink short hair and delicate CG modeling", imma has now become a top "virtual influencer" in the fashion and business fields, and is favored by top global brands. She has served as the digital spokesperson for fashion brands such as Burberry, COACH, BAPE and Doublet many times, and also served as the global brand ambassador for Lenovo's "Yoga" series of laptops in the early years.

Imma is also ubiquitous in the fields of sports and culture. At the closing ceremony of the 2021 Tokyo Paralympic Games, Imma performed as a digital image, becoming the first virtual person to appear in the Paralympic series of activities. In 2020, the Polish version of Forbes included Imma in the list of "Women of the Year", affirming her influence in "breaking the boundaries between virtual and real and empowering digital creativity". At the opening ceremony of the Osaka Kansai Expo held on April 12 this year, Imma, as a "special support ambassador", served as the host, responsible for introducing VIPs and guiding the progress of the event.

In terms of technology research and development, Aww Inc. has established a strategic partnership with semiconductor giant NVIDIA. In June 2024, Aww officially disclosed that the cooperation will integrate NVIDIA's AI audio driver technology (Audio2Face) and GPU acceleration capabilities to enhance the real-time emotional interaction and voice lip synchronization of virtual characters, thus entering the "AI-enabled virtual human 2.0 era". In the future, Aww plans to continue to expand its IP lineup and combine NVIDIA and self-developed AI tools to provide various industries with complete virtual human solutions from advertising endorsements to immersive metaverse experiences.

It can be seen that with its early market layout, well-known virtual IP and technical strength, Aww Inc. has established a certain brand influence in the Web2 world. At the same time, IPs such as IMMA already have a wide range of fans and commercial value among young people, and these advantages have also become important resources for the MIRAI project to develop Web3.

Entering Web3: From Imma to $MIRAI

As early as three years ago, Takayuki Moriya, co-founder of Aww Inc., said: "I am researching and creating artificial intelligence, virtual reality and various other platform businesses, but at the same time I am also focusing on building a community culture formed by blockchain, which will affect the future of individuals. In such a community culture, virtual people and their related intellectual property rights will become very important."

Today, Moriya's idea has officially landed - MIRAI, jointly created with Holoworld AI, the AI platform of the Solana ecosystem, aims to create the first "virtual idol + Web3 autonomous co-creation" ecosystem. It is worth mentioning that Imma's name is taken from the Japanese word ima, which means "now", and MIRAI means "future" in Japanese. The name of the new project may express Aww's expectations: entering the Web3 field means moving towards the future.

In terms of project empowerment, Aww Inc. provides core support with its advantages in IP operation and community operation in the Web2 world for many years. Aww Inc. clearly pointed out in the pre-sale launch announcement released on the official X account that this cooperation is based on the appeal and fan base of its virtual idol Imma and other IPs, providing a stable community traffic entrance for MIRAI pre-sale. Imma has more than 1.5 million fans on the entire platform so far, and has in-depth cooperation with internationally renowned brands, forming a high-stickiness marketing model that integrates online and offline, bringing a mature commercialization path endorsement to the project.

Holoworld AI injects the power of "intelligent body + decentralization" into the project through its underlying technology and on-chain infrastructure. Holoworld officially announced on Twitter that the strategic cooperation with Aww Inc. aims to jointly build the "first consumer-friendly on-chain AI virtual human infrastructure" and use Hololaunch as the first launch platform to help the MIRAI project complete the first round of issuance in a fair and transparent manner. In addition, Holoworld will also launch a number of core tools and services for MIRAI, including the new generation of Launchpad, Agent Studio V2 (providing video and image APIs and credit pricing system), Agent Livestreaming, and multi-chain deployment support (Open MCP). These features are planned to be launched in the next few quarters to provide full-stack technical support for virtual human content production, interactive experience and ecological expansion.

According to the project roadmap, MIRAI will launch Agent Studio V2 in Q3, supporting creators to generate high-quality multimodal content with one click; the first Agent Livestreaming is expected to be realized in Q4, allowing MIRAI characters to have real-time audience interaction and voting functions; finally, a complete DAO governance platform will be launched in early 2026, enabling community members to propose and decide on major matters such as IP derivatives and ecological fund allocation.

Interpreting MIRAI: Gimmick or innovation?

Based on the image and behavior of high-fidelity CGI and deep learning technology, MIRAI conceived an AI-driven virtual human character and bound it to the blockchain identity system. This model enables virtual humans to make autonomous decisions, interact with the community, and obtain incentives through the token economy, which can be regarded as a new paradigm of "AI intelligent body + on-chain identity". The project allows the community to act as co-creators and co-governors of the characters, jointly deciding the development of the plot and the direction of IP derivatives. After holding tokens, the community can participate in governance, use the character image for secondary creation and share the benefits, breaking the traditional one-way creation method of virtual IP. This mechanism is similar to "content is mining", encouraging users to use creativity and labor to tap into economic value.

However, innovation is also accompanied by many risks. In terms of token economy, the total number of MIRAI tokens is 1 billion, of which 25% are allocated to the team and partners. In the pre-sale stage, the top 100 addresses account for more than 60% of the tokens, and the overall number of addresses holding coins is decreasing, while the holdings of large holders are becoming increasingly concentrated. This will lead to a high concentration of governance rights, and the so-called community decision-making may become a formality. In addition, 25% of the liquidity pool is released in stages. If it rushes into the market in an early stage, the price may fluctuate violently.

At the community operation level, decentralized co-creation can stimulate vitality, but it also brings management difficulties: the quality of user-generated content varies. If there is a lack of effective review and incentive mechanisms, it is easy to have "plot deviation" or copyright disputes. Frequent character derivatives and joint names may also weaken the consistency and recognition of the core IP. The success of virtual idols such as Imma is due to the support of continuous high-quality content and hot topics; once there is a lack of innovative gameplay or a decline in attention, the character may quickly fall into the quagmire of "personality collapse" or declining popularity.

What we need to be more vigilant about is that when the hype subsides, we will be able to know whether blockchain has truly given new value to virtual idols, or whether it is just a commercial gimmick of "decentralization". Once the project operation is out of touch and the community activity does not meet expectations, the tokens may be "priced but not marketed", which will put investors at high risk.

Overall, MIRAI is groundbreaking in combining AI virtual idols with blockchain, injecting new ideas into Web3 content creation and IP economy. However, whether it can truly realize the above vision still depends on the reasonable design of the token economy, the improvement of the community governance mechanism, and the ability of virtual characters to continuously innovate and maintain value. Only when the technology and mechanism mature together can MIRAI truly become a demonstration of the "virtual human + decentralized economy" model.