Solana launchpad Pump. Fun has become the site for quirky new artificial intelligence ( AI ) projects to drop a token to get some extra money and attention. However, experts in the field disagree, despite the fact that some speculators and influencers now think that crypto will be crucial to AI’s following major evolution.
Truth Terminal, the second AI project to pique the interest of crypto degens, was inspired by an internet-famous vivid image of a man’s anus, which the AI agent, which was primarily trained in memes, built its own religion.
After the agent spoke about the idea, Fartcoin ( FARTCOIN), a popular Solana meme coin, was born. From this, Goatseus Maximus ( GOAT ), which was spawned, tons of tokens were sent to a Truth Terminal wallet.
Andy Ayrey, the father of Truth Terminal, told that this crypto-fueled consideration had its negatives. He claimed that it gave Ayrey a system to discuss how memetics may form AI, created a “media scene” around the project, and attracted more eyes.
More Artificial unicorns have been incubated by pump enjoyment than your favorite web2 VC.
— pumps. fun ( @pumpdotfun ) January 6, 2025
” One way to believe about Pump. Fun is that it has the largest notice market on the web. It makes it possible for everyone to use the power of verification to create a group around an idea,” Pump. joy co-founder Alon Cohen told The reflexivity of launching a meme coin makes it much simpler for [founders ] to get people’s opinions on their ideas than using traditional social media, according to the statement.
On top of this, in January, the Truth Terminal group completed a large over-the-counter sales of FARTCOIN, worth around$ 22 million at the time, which helped them get people to continue the site’s growth. Even so, Ayrey was generally criticized for the price, due to the short-term effect on the token’s value and the apparent people control of Truth Terminal.
” I don’t believe AI projects always need to be blockchain”, Ayrey explained. However, it is a way for independent AI researchers or labs to capitalize their first operations without needing to raise venture funds or qualify for grants.
By comparison, Neiry Lab, a research laboratory based in Russia that has given a mouse an AI mind, typically views its image gold as a selling tool. Neiry Lab told that it didn’t need the money, due to its venture capital funding, so has just used the meme coin as a way to attract more eyes—pushing its X account to over 33, 000 followers.
Cases like this have prompted crypto developers like Cohen to ponder whether the token trenches are America’s “only hope” to remain competitive in the AI industry. Plus, the official Pump. fun X account, perhaps half jokingly, claimed that the site had incubated more AI unicorns than most Web2 venture capital funds, after numerous AI coins passed a$ 1 billion market cap.
” Given the fact that Pump. It’s safe to say that innovation will come from there first because Fun continues to be the largest meme coin hub with the most users and liquidity, Cohen told .
The only way for America to compete against other countries in AI and save humanity is to create its own DeepSeek.
Given that big tech is being washed and that only yc funds are wrappers, it seems like the pump fun trenches is our only hope.
— alon ( @a1lon9 ) January 27, 2025
However, a University of Oxford researcher in the area of artificial intelligence and blockchain thinks that crypto is not the place to look for AI innovation.
Dr. Petar Radanliev, a researcher at the University of Oxford, told that “many of the new AI coins, AI agentic coins, and AI blockchains are nothing more than meme coins with no real value.” ” These are speculative bubbles that will burst in the next bear market, and 99 % of them will end up in the crypto graveyard along with all other speculative coins and tokens from previous bull runs,” said one analyst.
In many ways, this is already true, with numerous token launches claiming to be the newest AI innovation only to reveal themselves as the opposite as the day go on.
” Pump. fun has enabled criminals to seamlessly, anonymously launch tokens around tech that is either blatantly stolen or doesn’t exist”, trader Tyler Stockfield, known as Anon online, told . ” There is a very concerning pattern of launches that are being promoted and supported by [influencers ] and cabals that are premeditated farms that reach market caps of tens of millions and return under$ 1 million in less than 24 hours.”
Equally, some tokens speculate off projects that they aren’t officially tied to, even though the technology is genuinely impressive. These unrelated coins, however, are profit-seeking grifts at best and outright pump-and-dump scams at worst.
A slew of unofficial tokens were released via Pump when DeepSeek took over the AI industry by storm. Fun, which allows anyone to make a token for nothing in seconds. One token, DeepSeek ( SEEK), skyrocketed to a$ 54 million market cap while another, DeepSeek ( DEEPSEEK), hit$ 14 million. Both now sit below$ 400, 000, as investors who bought at the top now have near-worthless bags.
” We only care about the “revolutionary technology” as long as the volume is increasing,” Stockfield said. ” The tech might be real! However, the general consensus is that not enough people are interested.
TruthChain, for example, was seen as an exciting project that used LLMs to fact-check each other, it was founded by Rex St. John, a former Nvidia and Intel developer. A meme coin dedicated to the project, which was endorsed by John, soared to a market cap of$ 17 million in its first day as the hype developed, but it has since fallen below$ 500, 000. While John is still working on his AI product, he has been dragged into the world of meme coin degeneracy.
” Every trick in the book gets used to manipulate founders of AI projects”, Ayrey explained. ” This includes hacking of accounts, fudding for entry, threatening suicide, wishing your family harm, and so on”.
” The constant search for the next’ pump’ means people rifle through every part of your life”, he added,” to try and find pets, former projects, etc. in a self-replicating paparazzi”.
Ooli, the creator of the AI With Daddy Issues project, explained that the SHEGEN token brought” tremendous energy, but ultimately, it was difficult to sustain” due to her lack of capital to cover development costs. This problem is especially acute because developers can’t really sell their tokens without crypto degens pitching them with pitchforks, according to Ayrey.
In many cases, it seems that the downsides outweigh the occasionally brief positives, even though AI projects with meme coins typically see an initial boost in attention. Developers are under pressure from speculators who want the price to go up, degens who want their next play, and an angry mob that will buy them if they ever sell.
Ayrey believes that because of these factors, the incentives aren’t working for the most truly innovative AI projects to launch on Pump. fun—and, the Oxford researcher agrees.
” The innovation is happening in the shadows”, Dr. Radanliev told .
DeepSeek was arguably one of the most significant events in recent years for the AI industry, and it was undoubtedly not the result of a meme. In fact, it has nothing to do with crypto at all. And that might be true for the upcoming AI projects that, at least for the time being, actually have an impact.
” In this bull run, we are getting the investors interested—but it will take time to develop, and development is always happening in the bear market”, Dr. Radanliev added. You ought to be considering new options that come with the start of the next crypto cycle.
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