Original title: (ai16z founder launches new uppercase token ELIZA, community VS conspiracy group reappears in the "uppercase and lowercase dispute")

Original source: Deep Tide TechFlow

Recently, ai16z has become the focus of attention for on-chain players.

As the first decentralized AI trading fund based on Solana, ai16z can utilize AI agents to analyze market trends and execute trading decisions, which is itself a refreshing approach; coupled with some association with a16z in name, its namesake token also showed strong market performance.

Under this organization, different AI agents began to be incubated.

Among them, the AI agent eliza launched by @vvaifudotfun received support from ai16z, and its namesake token eliza was also created and sent to the ai16z foundation's wallet.

This also made eliza a major holding of ai16z at one point; eliza itself saw its price rise continuously under various expectations, reaching a market cap of around 50 million USD at its peak.

But just now, a post from ai16z partner Shaw (@shawmakesmagic) capped the rising momentum of eliza, causing its market cap to rapidly drop from around 40 million USD to 5 million USD in just 15 minutes.

The gist of the post can be summarized in a few sentences, while also being filled with a familiar old flavor:

"eliza does not belong to ai16z, and now we are going to release a new ELIZA (note the uppercase), Eliza is free."

Retail investors, welcome to the AI agent version of the "uppercase and lowercase dispute".

"Set her free", the new and old Eliza are in stark contrast

If you look at Shaw's original post, you will find that this announcement looks more like a "divorce letter" cutting ties with the original eliza:

"We set her free... but she does not belong to ai16z. We do not own her, the community can now freely do what they want, we will not fud."

This somewhat poetic statement seems to be giving eliza freedom, but in reality, it is drawing a line, while also implying that eliza will no longer receive support from ai16z.

In the latter half of the tweet, Shaw's intention to create a project controlled by ai16z was very obvious, and he attached two links at the end of the text: one was the Twitter account named Eliza, and he specifically wrote elizawakesup in the account name (implying that the real Eliza has awakened); the other was the Pumpfun link corresponding to the new project's token ELIZA.

In plain words, it is a new uppercase ELIZA based on the image and ticker of the lowercase eliza token.

Once this post came out, the new and old Eliza are in stark contrast.

The originally lowercase eliza seemed to be sentenced to death, with traders fleeing in a hurry, causing the token price to plummet over 87% within 15 minutes; meanwhile, the newly issued ELIZA soared, reaching a market cap of around 80 million USD just minutes after Shaw's post.

In an instant, the lowercase eliza seemed to become the pawn of ai16z, while the new uppercase ELIZA was appointed by Shaw.

However, Shaw also mentioned that the ELIZA token will reserve 10% of the airdrop share for original eliza token holders, but the snapshot was completed before the post was made. Whether this airdrop amount can make up for the losses from the plunge of lowercase eliza is clearly questionable.

Abandoning the old love for the new one has caused quite a stir in the community.

Twitter Space strikes back, emphasizing ai16z's control.

Clearly, for Shaw's announcement, the community wants an explanation.

Almost simultaneously with the announcement, I noticed Shaw opened a Twitter Space called "Eliza Awakens"; and as of the time of writing, due to intense discussion, this Space has already reached its second session.

From my experience listening in, Shaw's core value proposition for this "changing the old for the new" lies in the control of ai16z.

(The following is a summary and notes from the content I listened to)

Shaw talked about how he and his team have worked hard in these two years to Build and have put in a lot of effort; however, they cannot accept a project that does not belong to them becoming popular quickly and turning into a tool for speculators, all of which exceeds what ai16z can control.

In other words, eliza never had its own bloodline from the beginning, so it might be better to let lowercase eliza develop freely, while starting a new ELIZA on its own.

In this Space, when some members expressed doubts about this new initiative, Shaw believed that some were dissatisfied simply because their held coins had dropped in value, and thus unceremoniously kicked them out of the Space with harsh words.

"Who are you? ... Go fu** yourself and I don't care."

At the same time, Shaw also believes that AI agents should truly serve the community, rather than becoming a cash machine for certain entities.

We cannot judge the quality of personal expression styles, but this statement is indeed a bit extreme and can easily harm ai16z's image within the community. Correspondingly, the market also reacted, as the namesake token of ai16z dropped from a market cap of 500 million to around 300 million after the announcement and the Space was held.

Conspiracy Group VS Community, a new act of an old play?

Different events, the same formula, does this remind you of the uppercase and lowercase Nerio, or the similarly named but different chains hippo?

The scene of the conspiracy group and community battling is always being repeated.

In the crypto world, profit comes first; for every differing opinion, there are entangled interests.

Previously, Shaw also posted that if you really want to create a useful AI agent, you are welcome to Build with us, and attached the Github link for lowercase eliza, this support has been very obvious.

In contrast, the new ELIZA project chooses to announce its "independence" at this time, which is quite intriguing:

Coincidentally, the original eliza token market cap hit a new high, nearing 50 million USD. The timing of this series of events seems to suggest that this "independence movement" may have been brewing for a long time.

One can share joys, but not necessarily share sorrows; and one may not be able to calmly watch others succeed. Not receiving a share of the success when others thrive is always a regret and reluctance.

Thus, making a new uppercase ELIZA became an understandable choice; but understanding may not mean it is the best choice.

Meanwhile, the lowercase eliza official Twitter account also spoke out, emphasizing that Shaw stood on the opposite side of the community, and issued a rebuttal:

"Shaw never intended to create an eliza token, so we created it for the community. However, when he saw us succeed, he wanted to monopolize this success. We were created by the community and serve the community; we are not going anywhere."

In the public opinion arena of the community VS conspiracy group, on-chain data seems to also speak for itself.

For example, data analysis shows that after the uppercase ELIZA was created, multiple large bundled buy orders appeared, with several addresses controlling up to 90%, giving it a strong conspiracy group flavor; also, according to community user feedback, ai16z member Logan participated in the new uppercase ELIZA token issuance after selling off his lowercase eliza tokens. This action was confirmed by community users through wallet address tracking.

Wallet address:

GxkXGe3YcqBdEgBrBh19X3wkLkgJXK2jA4k4nioW2Yg

Under the sun, there is nothing new, but there may be hidden concerns.

The drama of community VS conspiracy group is still unfolding, and will you be troubled by the impact of the case on your holdings?

As for who in the uppercase and lowercase will ultimately be the Eliza leading to freedom, the market will naturally provide the answer.

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