NEXUS Testnet launched, 24-hour big pump of 451%, AI × Decentralization scientific narrative

As the AI narrative and blockchain infrastructure craze gradually recedes, the sudden surge of $NEXUS has become another focal point in the Web3 market. According to on-chain data and information compiled from platform X, the NEXUS token has risen by as much as 451.33% in the last 24 hours, with a trading volume reaching $1.07 million, and the number of holding addresses has also rapidly climbed to 664.

The project has attracted attention not only for its technical narrative and testnet incentive mechanisms but also for its performance metrics and grand vision for distributed scientific research, drawing in a group of cutting-edge investors and early users.

Behind the surge: Testnet launch combined with low base effect

The NEXUS project officially launched its third phase testnet in the early hours of June 24, supporting users to participate in network construction by contributing CPU/GPU computing power (including mobile phones, laptops, and other terminals) and receive test incentives. According to users @Damaomaobg and @yixing_web3, this testnet not only offers points and NFT tasks but also hints that future Token airdrops will be distributed based on computing power contributions.

According to early participants of the testnet @0xCristal, the average earnings for users in the first two phases are estimated to be around $3980, and this phase is expected to attract a large number of "hash power nomads" to enter the market. The project team has not yet announced the specific time for the TGE (Token Generation Event), but has revealed that it will be completed in the third quarter of 2025 and will be based on user testing data for the first token distribution and launch.

Due to the current stage of trading on non-mainstream exchanges, the price of $NEXUS is experiencing extreme fluctuations affected by supply and demand. The 24-hour price rise has exceeded 450%, with trading volume concentrated on Solana's ecological DEX, initially indicating a high degree of market speculation and event-driven logic.

Narrative differentiation: Knowledge is an asset, scientific research tokenization.

Unlike most AI+Crypto projects that focus on large model training, data labeling, or AI computing power trading, NEXUS proposes a "Decentralized Science Protocol (DeSci Protocol)" with a more fundamental and structural vision.

Its core concepts include:

Confirm the scientific research data and model results in the form of tokens, and put them on-chain to become citable assets;

By referencing tracking and computing power staking mechanisms, build an "intellectual property as a mining machine" economic model.

Utilizing the immutable and open-source mechanisms of blockchain to reshape research verification, credibility, and collaboration processes.

NEXUS refers to such achievements as "Intellectual Protocols" and has established a dedicated Nexus Virtual Machine (NVM) to handle these non-Turing complete auditable tasks, aiming to avoid the "gas trap" and high-frequency failure issues under the EVM system.

The project is also clearly positioned to build a "global supercomputer" network, aiming to combine redundant computing power (mobile phones/idle PCs) with high-value scientific research data, promoting a new ecosystem of "science as a service."

Technical strength: 3 billion instructions executed per second, far exceeding EVM.

An important part of supporting the NEXUS narrative is its self-developed Nexus Virtual Machine (NVM). This architecture claims to be designed specifically for modern CPUs and has the following characteristics:

The single instruction latency is only 33 nanoseconds, compared to the 1.7 million nanoseconds of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), resulting in a performance improvement of approximately 50,000 times.

Non-Turing complete design, supporting only finite state logic, ensuring predictable execution and stable Gas costs;

Native support for multi-threaded parallel computing, with task scheduling logic optimized for microprocessors, making it more suitable for AI inference and data validation scenarios.

This architecture aims to address the performance bottlenecks of current Blockchain infrastructure in complex computational tasks, particularly suitable for high-frequency and high-throughput tasks such as scientific model validation and AI data referencing. This design has gained support from some members of the technical community and is considered "one of the most radical virtual machine designs since the Move language."

Project background and risk analysis: Limited relationship with Nexus Mutual, should remain vigilant regarding hacker history.

It is worth noting that some investors in the market mistakenly confuse the NEXUS Token with the DeFi insurance platform Nexus Mutual (NXM). Although the two have similar names and their early teams had technical intersections, NEXUS is currently taking an independent path aimed at DeSci.

However, history still needs to warn: In December 2020, NXM founder Hugh Karp suffered a hacker attack, losing 8 million USD worth of NXM Tokens. The method of attack was to tamper with the MetaMask browser extension to execute transfer operations, revealing the security risks at the wallet plugin level.

Although this event occurred in another project, it is still of reference significance for NEXUS, especially given that the current testnet tasks heavily rely on local execution and wallet authorization by users. It is essential to pay attention to security protection.

The project team also clearly advises users to avoid using unknown plugins and browser wallets, and to prioritize using hardware wallets or verified light clients to participate in testing.

Current market assessment: opportunities and risks coexist

Advantage Signal:

The project has completed a financing of 27 million dollars, with strong financial strength.

The narrative is innovative, featuring a differentiated positioning of AI + scientific research tokenization;

The performance and design philosophy of the virtual machine have technical breakthroughs;

The threshold for participating in the testnet is low, with a fair expectation of obtaining airdrops.

Market heat is rising, and social media influence is significantly increasing;

Risk factors:

The token has not fully undergone TGE, and the current price heavily relies on irrational speculation.

The project is still in its early stages, and the implementation of technology and the expansion of the ecosystem need further observation.

The correlation between wallet authorization security issues and historical hacking incidents of Nexus is high.

Whether the narrative can continue to build a moat requires further observation of the implementation of its community governance and IP rights confirmation mechanisms.

Written at the end

In the current market atmosphere where the narrative of AI and infrastructure is becoming crowded, NEXUS takes decentralized research collaboration as a breakthrough, paired with high-performance virtual machines and testnet incentive mechanisms, becoming one of the few emerging projects with structural innovation potential.

However, in the face of the yet-to-be-implemented technological narrative and the market conditions of severe price fluctuations, investors still need to rationally assess risks and establish safety measures and exit mechanisms. Next focus points: TGE timeline, airdrop distribution logic, deepening testnet tasks, and the speed of early ecosystem development.