Recently, ai16z has become the focus of attention of players on the chain.
As the first decentralized AI trading fund based on Solana, ai16z is able to use AI agents to analyze market trends and execute trading decisions. This gameplay itself is eye-catching; coupled with a certain connection with a16z in the name, its token of the same name also shows 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 eponymous token eliza was also created and transferred to the wallet of the ai16z foundation.
This also made Eliza the largest holding of ai16z for a time; Eliza's price also continued to rise under the support of various expectations, with its market value reaching a maximum of about 50 million US dollars.
But just now, a post by ai16z partner Shaw (@shawmakesmagic) blocked Eliza's rising momentum, and its market value dropped rapidly from around 40 million US dollars to 5 million US dollars in just 15 minutes.
The gist of the post can be described in a few words, and it is full of familiar old flavor:
"eliza does not belong to ai16z. Now we are going to release a new ELIZA (note it is capitalized). Eliza is free."
Hey, welcome to the AI agent version of "The Case War".
"Let Her Go Free", the difference between the old and new Eliza
If you look at the original post by Shaw, you will find that this announcement is more like a "divorce letter" to cut ties with the original Eliza:
"We set her free... but she does not belong to ai16z. We do not own her, the community is now free to do what they want, we will not fud."
This slightly poetic statement seems to give Eliza freedom, but in fact it draws a line in the sand and implies that Eliza will no longer receive support from ai16z .
In the second half of the tweet, Shaw’s intention to create a project controlled by ai16z was very obvious, and two links were attached at the end of the post. One was a Twitter account with the same name as Eliza, and the account name specifically said elizawakesup (implying that the real Eliza woke up); the other was a Pumpfun link to the token ELIZA corresponding to this new project.
To put it simply, based on the image and ticker of the lowercase eliza token, a new uppercase ELIZA was created.
As soon as this post came out, the new and old Eliza were like ice and fire.
The original lowercase eliza seemed to be sentenced to death, and traders rushed to flee, causing the token price to plummet by more than 87% within 15 minutes; while the newly issued ELIZA rose all the way, and just a few minutes after Shaw's post was published, the market value had reached about 80 million US dollars.
In an instant, the lowercase eliza seemed to have become ai16z's abandoned child, and the new uppercase ELIZA was chosen by Shaw.
However, Shaw also mentioned that ELIZA tokens will reserve 10% of the airdrop share for original eliza token holders, but the snapshot time was completed before posting. But whether this airdrop amount can recover the losses of the lowercase plummet is obviously a question mark.
Ditching the old love and finding a new one, this behavior also caused an uproar in the community.
Twitter Space makes up for it, emphasizing ai16z's control
Clearly, the community wants an explanation for Shaw's announcement.
Almost at the same time as the announcement was released, the editor saw that Shaw had opened a Twitter Space called "Eliza Awakening"; and as of press time, due to the intense discussion, this Space has already opened its second session.
From the editor's observations after joining the listening session, Shaw's core value proposition for this "farewell to the old and welcome to the new" lies in the control of ai16z .
(The following is a shorthand summary of what the editor listened to)
Shaw talked about how he and his team had worked hard on Build over the past two years and put in a lot of effort; however, they could not accept that a project that did not belong to them would quickly become popular and become a tool for gamblers to speculate. All of this was beyond the control of ai16z.
In other words, Eliza has no bloodline of her own from the beginning, so it would be better to let lowercase Eliza develop freely and start a new ELIZA.
In this Space, when some members expressed doubts about this new behavior, Shaw believed that some people were just dissatisfied because the coins they held had fallen, so he kicked them out of the Space mercilessly and used 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 ATMs for certain entities.
We cannot judge the quality of personal expression, but these remarks are indeed a bit radical and can easily hurt ai16z's image in the community. Correspondingly, the market also responded. After the announcement and the convening of the Space, the market value of ai16z's eponymous token fell from 500m to around 300m.
Conspiracy group vs. community, a new twist on the old story?
Different events, same formula, does this remind you of Nerio with uppercase and lowercase letters, or a hippo with the same name but different chains?
The drama of conspiracy groups fighting against the community is always repeated.
In the crypto world, profit is everything; there are as many conflicts of interest as there are different opinions.
Previously, Shaw also posted that if you really want to make an AI agent with practical value, you are welcome to build it with us, and attached the github link of lowercase eliza. This platform support is already very obvious.
In contrast, the timing of the new ELIZA project’s announcement of “independence” at this time is also quite intriguing:
The market value of the original Eliza token hit a new high, approaching 50 million US dollars. This series of timing choices seems to suggest that this "independence movement" may have been brewing for a long time.
We can share the good times, but not necessarily the bad times, and certainly not be able to calmly watch others succeed. It is always regrettable and unwilling when we don't get a share of the success of others.
Therefore, being a capital ELIZA becomes an understandable choice; but understanding may not mean it is the best choice.
At the same time, the official Twitter account of lowercase eliza also emphasized that Shaw stood on the opposite side of the community and issued a response:
“Shaw never wanted to make an Eliza token, so we created it for the community. However, when he saw our success, he wanted to keep it all to himself. We were created by the community, for the community, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Outside of the debate over community vs. conspiracy groups, on-chain data seems to speak for itself.
For example, data analysis shows that after the creation of uppercase ELIZA, there were multiple large bundled purchase orders, and several addresses once controlled 90% of the tokens, which was full of conspiracy. At the same time, according to community user feedback, ai16z member Logan participated in the issuance of new uppercase ELIZA tokens after selling lowercase eliza tokens. This behavior was confirmed by community users through wallet address tracking.
Wallet Address:
GxkXGe3YcqBdEgBrBh19X3wkLkgJXK2jA4k4nioW2Yg
There is nothing new under the sun, but there may be something new on one’s mind.
The drama of a community vs. a conspiracy group is still going on. Are you worried because your holdings are affected by the capitalization incident?
As for who among the uppercase and lowercase characters will eventually be Eliza who finds freedom, the market will naturally give the answer.
