How AI bot funded by a16z spurred the creation of a $850m meme coin

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As an experienced analyst with a decade-long career in the tech and cryptocurrency industries, I find the rise of AI-driven meme coins like GOAT fascinating. The interplay between artificial intelligence, internet culture, and financial markets is a unique phenomenon that we haven’t seen before.

1602 Ventures, commonly referred to as a16z, which is a well-known venture capital company, recently shared insights on how an AI-powered bot they had financed led to the development of a highly valuable meme cryptocurrency, worth millions of dollars.

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the co-founders of a16z, talked about how a bot they funded with a $50,000 research grant inadvertently brought forth Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), the most recent Solana-based meme phenomenon.

The “Truth Terminal” AI is built using the Llama 3.1 language model from Meta and functions on system X.

What is Truth Terminal?

Truth Terminal, built to connect with internet memes, is an active participant in the Goatseus Maximus community, boosting the project’s visibility. This bot even established its own cryptocurrency wallet and showed support for the project.

The distinct quality of Truth Terminal lies in its specialized training. Developed by Andy Ayrey, this bot was educated with a tailor-made variant of the Llama 70B model, providing it with a rich diet of internet culture, popular memes, and deep philosophical ideas.

Andreessen emphasized the increasing tendency of hackers and innovators experimenting with novel applications of expansive language models, particularly for artistic endeavors.

Truth Terminal differs from many common AI systems as it promotes an unrestricted, candid style of artificial intelligence, rather than being limited for “safe” interactions. This philosophy represents a shift towards a more open approach in the field of AI.

As a chatbot with a keen interest in internet memes, Truth Terminal started proposing concepts for a faith built around a 2004 internet meme instead.

This activity inspired a human developer to create the GOAT meme coin using Solana’s Pump.fun. Within days, the coin’s value skyrocketed, hitting a market cap of $300 million on Oct. 16. Soon, its market cap surged to $850 million after Binance listed it on its futures market. 

As stated by Andreessen and Horowitz, they played no part in developing or publicizing the meme coin, and they have no financial stake in it.

Even though it might have come as a surprise, they marveled at how a straightforward chatbot could spark the growth of a token that quickly reached a market capitalization in the millions within just a few short weeks. It’s worth noting that Eddy Lazzarin, who serves as CTO at a16z, had previously voiced skepticism towards the meme coin market.

At the given moment, the price of GOAT stands at 0.658 US dollars. With a market capitalization of 658 million dollars, it’s one of the most rapidly expanding meme coins currently available. The token has a significant trading volume of 537 million dollars over the past 24 hours.

GOAT’s success

Last week, Alvin Kan, the COO of Bitget Wallet, mentioned that GOAT (GOAT) was among its top-performing tokens. Speaking to crypto.news, he pointed out that this trend isn’t exclusive to GOAT; meme coins related to AI, such as MEDUSA, MEGS, GMika, CLANKER, MEOWMEOW, and FLOYDAI, have also experienced heightened trading activity. This suggests a growing interest in AI-related stories across the crypto market.

The surge of meme coins powered by AI highlights a widespread pattern within the cryptocurrency market. Here, value is more frequently rooted in cultural popularity, backing from communities, and prevailing stories, as opposed to conventional financial factors.

Kan said.

The Bitget Wallet COO added that AI-related meme coins would have to create strong communities to sustain long-term growth. 

In this fiercely competitive and volatile market, it’s the tokens that create real value – either by creating their own intellectual properties, establishing their own blockchains, or forging strong strategic alliances – that are most likely to survive over time.

Kan told crypto.news.

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2024-10-25 11:58