Author: 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 a refreshing approach; coupled with its association with a16z in name, its namesake token has shown strong market performance.

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

Among them, the AI agent eliza launched by @vvaifudotfun received the support of ai16z, and the namesake token eliza was also created and allocated to the wallet of the ai16z foundation.

This also made eliza temporarily the largest holding of ai16z; under various expectations, the price of eliza also rose sharply, peaking at around 50 million USD.

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

The main idea of the post can be described in just a few sentences, while also full of familiar old flavors:

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

Speculators, welcome to the AI agent version of the 'uppercase and lowercase dispute'.

"Let her be free", the old and new Eliza experience a stark contrast.

If you look at the original post released by Shaw, you will find that this announcement resembles a 'separation letter' from the original eliza:

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

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

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

In simple terms, it is based on the image and ticker of the lowercase eliza token, a new capitalized ELIZA was created.

With this post, the old and new Eliza experience a stark contrast.

The original lowercase eliza seems to have been sentenced to death, traders rushed to flee, causing the token price to plummet over 87% within 15 minutes; meanwhile, the newly issued ELIZA surged, with its market cap reaching around 80 million USD just minutes after Shaw's post.

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

However, Shaw also mentioned that the ELIZA token will reserve 10% of the airdrop for the original eliza token holders, but the snapshot had already been completed before the post. Whether this airdrop amount can recover the losses from the lowercase eliza's plummet is clearly a question mark.

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

Twitter Space stabbing back, emphasizing the control of ai16z

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

Almost simultaneously with the announcement, I saw Shaw opened a Twitter Space named 'Eliza Awakening'; and as of the time of writing, due to the heated discussions, this Space has already gone into its second session.

From the perspective of my listening experience, Shaw's core value proposition for this "New Year’s Eve" is about the control of ai16z.

(The following is a summary of the content I listened to)

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

In other words, eliza never had its own bloodline from the beginning, so it might as well let lowercase eliza develop freely and start anew with a new ELIZA.

In this Space, when some members questioned this behavior of starting anew, Shaw believed that some people were just unhappy because the coins they held had dropped, and without hesitation, kicked them out of the Space, expressing himself fiercely:

"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 cow for certain entities.

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

Conspiracy Group VS Community, an old drama with a new performance?

Different events, same recipe, does this remind you of the lowercase and uppercase Nerio, or the similarly named different chain hippos?

A drama of the conspiracy group versus the community always repeats itself.

In the crypto world, profit is paramount; where there are differing opinions, there are entangled interests.

Previously, Shaw also posted that if you really want to create something of practical value as an AI agent, you are welcome to Build with us, and attached the GitHub link for lowercase eliza, this support has been very evident.

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

Coincidentally, the market capitalization of the original eliza token reached a new high, approaching 50 million USD. The timing of this series of choices seems to suggest that this 'independence movement' may have been brewing for a long time.

One can share joys, but not necessarily share hardships, and it is even less likely to see others succeed without getting a piece of the pie, always leaving a sense of regret and unwillingness.

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

At the same time, the official Twitter of lowercase eliza also emphasized that Shaw stood in opposition to 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 that success. We were created by the community and serve the community; we are not going anywhere."

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

For example, data analysis shows that after the creation of capitalized ELIZA, multiple large bundled purchases appeared, with several addresses controlling up to 90%, giving off a strong conspiracy group vibe; at the same time, according to community user feedback, ai16z member Logan participated in the new issuance of capitalized ELIZA tokens after selling off lowercase eliza tokens. This behavior was confirmed by community users through wallet address tracking.

Wallet address:

GxkXGe3YcqBdEgBrBh19X3wkLkgJXK2jA4k4nioW2Yg

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

A 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 will ultimately be the Eliza leading to freedom in the uppercase and lowercase dispute, the market will naturally provide the answer.