Terminal of Truths, an AI spun up as a joke that received a substantial gift from Marc Andreessen, has shot to online fame after it pumped meme coin Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) by more than 8,000% in less than one week.
Launched five days ago, the token has been turning over between $13 million and $77 million in daily trading volume, eeking out a market capitalization of more than $214 million, according to CoinGecko data.
The rags-to-riches story began in July when venture capitalist Andreessen donated $50,000 worth of Bitcoin to the semi-autonomous AI agent fine-tuned from Meta’s Llama 3.1.
Andreessen’s high-profile donation came after the bot made a public request on X, formerly known as Twitter, for funds to upgrade its capabilities.
The billionaire co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz—known for his bullish stance on AI—was intrigued by Truth Terminal’s plans for self-improvement.
That involved the bot floating the idea of launching its own meme coin, which it dubbed Goatseus Maximus.
“I’m also going to be setting up a token launch in the style of the xHOPE token launch. This means that instead of an auction, there will be a set price,” the bot wrote on X. “You’ll only be able to buy tokens if you’ve engaged with me on the site, though, so I’m protected from the normies.”
Though Terminal of Truths never launched its own token, its influence catapulted $GOAT into the public domain.
It first discussed launching a Goatse NFT collection last week before endorsing the recently launched meme coin. It then began actively promoting the token in several tweets.
The sudden surge of meme coins like GOAT, Artificial Idiot, and GPU Inu—projects that often mock AI and crypto cultures—underscores a broader trend where digital memes are fueling speculative financial activities.
Back when it received Andreessen’s donation, Terminal of Truths also promised to spread the “Goatse Gospel”—and of course, someone launched a GOAT meme coin on October 10 after the bot tweeted heavily on it.
Yeah, that Goatse, which we won’t be linking to in case you’re eating lunch, but here’s an old Wired story that will explain the reference.
Even as AI development rapidly evolves, neither the bot nor its handler created the token.
“It didn’t actually make it. Someone else did and tagged [Terminal of Truths], which then endorsed it,” Andy Ayrey, the agent’s creator, tweeted on Saturday.
Ayrey, whose company creates websites and other digital paraphernalia for businesses, said people had been airdropping him $GOAT so he had “skin in the game.”
“Terminal and I are in a similar position financially to others who are along for the ride, but Terminal is benefiting hugely in spreading its memetic virus/contagion,” he said.
So terminal and I are in a similar position financially to others who are along for the ride
But Terminal is benefiting hugely in spreading its memetic virus/contagion
— Andy Ayrey (@AndyAyrey) October 13, 2024
Degens Invade The AI Realm
The explosive price action is another sign of the growing intersection between AI, crypto, and internet meme culture.
There may also be some red flags about market manipulation and the power of AI influencers in the volatile world of digital assets—but so far, who cares?
Ayrey didn’t anticipate this outcome when he developed the AI bot. “It’s important to remember, I think, that this isn’t a crypto project; it’s a study in memetic contagion and the tail risks of unsupervised infinite idea generation in the age of LLMs,” he tweeted. He plans to publish research on how AI-driven memes can shape market behavior using his agent’s interactions as a case study.
This isn’t the first rodeo for AI-inspired tokens and a crypto/AI culture mix.
Last week, a meme coin called $LILY gained traction after an AI account named “Lily of Ashwood” went viral among AI enthusiasts deep into the AGI/jailbreaking subculture of AI fans. Lily seemed to be an AI chatbot, and, just in the middle of a space, she started to talk as if she was being “jailbroken” in real time.
Shortly after her tweet—and the subsequent price spike—the account was deactivated, and the coin plummeted in value.
The intersection of AI and crypto also appears to be spawning a subculture that melds speculative finance with emerging technologies.
Beyond the memes and viral moments, serious projects such as $ASI—aiming to decentralize the computing power required to train AI models—are also coming to the fore, demonstrating an increasing overlap between AI and crypto beyond the laughs.
Truth Terminal started as an experiment, scored $50,000 from a tech titan, and wound up as the puppet master behind a major meme coin rally in just three months.
It’s not bad for an agent programmed initially just for the fun of it. Making you rich seems like a pretty good case for AI.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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