In a tumultuous turn of events, the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency collided this week as two tokens bearing the name “Eliza” battled for dominance in a chaotic trading session. While AI may one day spell humanity’s doom, for now, humans are doing a fine job of exploiting it for their own gain.
The Rise of ai16z and Eliza
The creators of the latest darling AI crypto project, “ai16z” (a brazen play on the prolific venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz), learned this lesson the hard way. They had planned to unveil a brand new token tied to their AI creation, called ELIZA. Instead, someone else beat them to the punch.
A brawl erupted among crypto traders, fought with charts and orders. Suddenly, there were two ELIZA coins: one created days ago by apparent ai16z fans, and another, brand new coin sanctioned by the creator of ai16z.
The Old Eliza vs. The New Eliza
The older coin, which had reached a heady $40 million market cap, plunged to $6 million in 30 minutes of frenzied selling, while the new coin skyrocketed from nowhere to a peak of $100 million.
“We had a plan and a story to tell, but found ourselves literally in a race against the mascot character of our own brand,” the pseudonymous creator of ai16z, who goes by Shaw, said on X.
That mascot character is Eliza, an open-source framework for AI characters that can interact with people on social media. On Tuesday, Shaw “unleashed” her and endorsed the new ELIZA token, whose sanctioned creators pledged to give a hefty slice to the ai16z treasury.
Defending the Chaos
In public calls on X, Shaw defended the convoluted chain of events. He said early holders of the old Eliza token would receive 10% of the new token – effectively a bailout for getting obliterated on their original investment.
Shaw instead insisted the new token was “essential” to create an ELIZA-linked asset, divorced from the ai16z brand, that could live on and grow, with its own lore and traditions to influence a wave of AI characters.
AI Ambitions and Influencer Dreams
Ai16z is attempting to position itself as a leading player in the AI wave. It bills itself as a fully AI-managed venture fund with the goal to “flip a16z.” Holders of the project’s token (which has a north of $300 million market cap) will supposedly be able to sway the project’s AI head honcho, “Marc AIndresseen,” per its website.
The new Eliza token is “not an ai16z project,” according to Shaw. Instead it’s the creation of a different, unnamed “partner” who he says is working with the ai16z team.
The Wild West of AI Tokens
As the dust settles on this wild trading session, it’s clear that the intersection of AI and crypto remains a speculative, high-risk frontier. Fortunes can be made or lost in minutes, and the line between an “official” project and an opportunistic copy can be blurry at best.
For now, both Eliza tokens continue to trade, with the Shaw-endorsed coin maintaining a significant market cap lead. But in the fast-moving world of AI memecoins, it’s anyone’s guess which version of this virtual assistant will have the last laugh.
As AI technology advances at a breakneck pace, one thing is certain: the crypto markets will continue to serve as a high-stakes testing ground for new ideas, characters, and schemes. Buckle up – the age of AI tokens has only just begun, and it’s sure to be a wild ride.