Written by: Deep Tide TechFlow

Recently, ai16z has become the focus of attention among 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 makes this approach quite eye-catching; coupled with a certain association with a16z in name, it has also led its namesake token to exhibit strong market performance.

And 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 allocated to the wallet of the ai16z foundation.

This also made eliza temporarily the largest holding for ai16z; the price of eliza itself rose under various expectations, reaching a market cap of around 50 million USD at its peak.

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

The gist of the post can be described in a few sentences, and it is also filled with familiar old flavors:

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

Retail investors, welcome to the AI agent version of the 'case dispute'.

"Let her be free," the old and new Eliza are in stark contrast.

If we take a look at Shaw's original post, we will find that this announcement resembles a 'divorce letter' that cuts ties with the original eliza:

"We 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 fud."

This somewhat poetic expression seems to grant eliza freedom, but in reality, it is drawing a clear line, while hinting 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 he attached two links at the end of the text, one is the Twitter account Eliza, which shares the same name with eliza, and intentionally includes 'elizawakesup' in the account name (implying that the real Eliza has awakened); the other is the Pumpfun link corresponding to this new project's token ELIZA.

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

After this post, the old and new Eliza are in stark contrast.

Originally, lowercase eliza seemed to be sentenced to death, traders rushed to flee, causing the token price to plummet over 87% in just 15 minutes; meanwhile, the newly issued ELIZA surged, with its market value reaching around 80 million USD just a few minutes after Shaw's post.

In an instant, lowercase eliza seemed to become a discarded 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 for original eliza token holders, but the snapshot was completed before the post. Whether this airdrop can recover the losses from the drop in lowercase remains a question mark.

Dumping the old love and embracing the new, this behavior has caused quite a stir in the community.

Twitter Space strikes again, emphasizing the control of ai16z

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

Almost simultaneously with the announcement, the editor saw that Shaw opened a Twitter Space named 'Eliza Awakens'; by the time of writing, due to intense discussions, this Space had already gone to its second session.

From my perspective as I joined the listening session, Shaw's core value proposition for this 'changing of the guard' is centered around the control of ai16z.

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

Shaw talked about the hard work he and his team have put into building over the past two years; however, they cannot accept a project that doesn't belong to them rising rapidly and becoming a tool for speculators, all of which exceeds what ai16z can control.

In other words, eliza never had its own bloodline from the start; it might be better to let lowercase eliza develop freely and then start anew with a new ELIZA.

In this Space, when some members expressed doubts about this starting anew behavior, Shaw believed that some were merely dissatisfied because their holdings had dropped, and unceremoniously kicked them out of the Space, stating 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 become a cash cow for certain entities.

We cannot judge the quality of personal expression styles, but this statement is indeed somewhat radical and can easily harm ai16z's image within the community. Accordingly, the market reacted, and the namesake token of ai16z fell from a market cap of 500 million to around 300 million after the announcement and the Space.

Conspiracy group vs. community, an old play with a new twist?

Different events, same formula, does this remind you of the capitalization of Nerio or the hippos of different chains sharing the same name?

A drama of the conspiracy group and community battling against each other is always replayed.

In the crypto world, interests come first; the more opinions differ, the more interests become entangled.

Previously, Shaw also posted that if you really want to create an AI agent with practical value, you are welcome to build with us, attaching the GitHub link of lowercase eliza, this support has been quite evident.

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

Coincidentally, the market value 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 joy, but may not endure hardship together, and it is even less likely to calmly rejoice in others' success when one has not received a share of the spoils; there is always regret and unwillingness.

Thus, creating a new uppercase ELIZA has become an understandable choice; however, understanding may not mean it is the best choice.

Meanwhile, the official Twitter of lowercase eliza has also emphasized that Shaw stands 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 our success, he wanted to take all the credit. We were created by the community, for the community, and we are not going anywhere."

Outside the public opinion arena of the community vs. the conspiracy group, on-chain data seems to be speaking for itself.

For example, data analysis shows that after the creation of uppercase ELIZA, there were several large bundled purchases, with several addresses controlling up to 90%, indicating a strong conspiracy group vibe; meanwhile, community users reported that ai16z member Logan, after selling lowercase eliza tokens, participated in the issuance of new uppercase 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; will you be troubled by the impact of the capitalization event on your holdings?

As for who will ultimately be the Eliza leading to freedom in upper and lower case, the market will naturally provide the answer.