Written by: Deep Tide TechFlow
In the recent days of market decline, you must have been bombarded by this little chubby girl --- a "chubby version" girl resembling ai16z, with the corresponding token being LLM (Large Language Models), which literally translates to "large language model."
In this homophonic pun, "Large" (the common clothing size for larger sizes) has ironically become a funny meme point, indeed a larger ai16z, which also plays on the current generative AI's large language models, leading this meme coin to a market cap of one hundred million dollars.
Some group members bluntly stated, this is not ai16z at all, it's simply ai160kg. It has garnered an unexpected entertainment effect.
In the current crypto ecosystem, you have to admit that sometimes being serious about a project is not as effective as cleverly finding an angle.
In this chubby girl meme incident, the editor thought of a popular phenomenon in the current crypto market:
AI projects have begun to enthusiastically create "knockoff names" playing with homophonic puns, deconstructing and deriving from the original, thus carving out their own characteristics. For example, LLM is clearly derived from ai16z, while ai16z itself is also a mimicry and derivation of the well-known crypto VC a16z…
We have reviewed some of the more well-known homophonic pun projects, and perhaps there are quite a few wealth codes hidden in the laughter.
Solana Ecosystem
ai16z + Marc "AI"ndreessen: The Beginning of All Homophonic Puns
No need for much introduction, one of the leaders in this round of AI agent craze began with a fully entertaining thought --- to replicate the well-known crypto VC and founder on-chain, forming an AI version.
In addition to the name ai16z, which reflects AI and benchmarks against a16z crypto venture capital, the project is also accompanied by a personal account called @pmairca, which is clearly a homophonic play on a16z founder Marc Andreessen's @pmarca account.
The Twitter bio is also very straightforward --- I want to imitate, and I want to surpass.
DegenAI: When AI Begins to Become the On-Chain Mirror of KOLs
If ai16z is mimicking investment institutions, then DegenAI (@degenspartanai) is targeting well-known KOLs in the crypto circle.
DegenAI (@degenspartanai) chooses to mimic the well-known trader DegenSpartan (@DegenSpartan) in the crypto circle. This trader, known by the name "찌 G 跻 じ," is quite influential in the circle, a former private equity crypto fund manager, and a KOL who is highly followed on social media; those who frequently surf CT will surely be familiar with him.
Interestingly, this AI project also originates from the ai16z ecosystem.
This mimicry account not only inherits DegenSpartan's trading style but also aims to replicate his sharp and incisive speaking style on social media.
Moreover, from the perspective of automated trading agents, choosing to mimic a well-known trader like DegenSpartan somewhat embodies the idea of "letting AI learn from top traders."
X Combinator: Changing a Letter to Pay Tribute to Y Combinator
CA:
2PHi2f7xPq6bnh2J6xRN2Qc5TJ37epHihvBk49DgpAaU
X Combinator is an AI project incubation platform in the Solana ecosystem that mimics Y Combinator (YC). This project positions itself as "the best AI incubator and launchpad on Solana," clearly borrowing from YC's successful model in the Web2 startup circle.
Unlike traditional incubators, X Combinator focuses on incubating AI agent projects, particularly autonomous trading agents. They have established a launchpad program called "Project X," through which they screen and nurture outstanding AI trading agent projects.
This positioning aligns very well with the current development trend of AI tracks in the Solana ecosystem, as more and more projects begin to apply AI technology in areas such as automated trading, investment DAOs, and data analysis.
From an operational perspective, X Combinator has established a strategic fund specifically to invest in top autonomous trading agents that emerge from its launchpad projects. This model is similar to YC's investment support for outstanding startup projects.
AIrthur Hayes: An AI Agent Mimicking a Legendary Figure in the Crypto Circle
CA:
6hUC9DN73kdinkth3JdELGYnEbLEnEE4NvbzzoG3yPKK
The naming of the AIrthur Hayes project is clearly a mimicry of Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX and one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency field.
Arthur Hayes himself has also been active in the intersection of AI and crypto, such as joining the advisory board of the decentralized AI platform Ritual; in a previous interview with Bankless, he stated that AI agents represent a "new vitality" in entering the cryptocurrency industry.
It is worth mentioning that this project also exists in the form of an AI-managed fund on Daos.fun, and has currently invested in several AI agent project tokens, with total assets under management (AUM) reaching nearly $500,000.
AIWS: Mimicking AWS's AI Cloud Computing Platform
CA:
0x3E9C747db47602210EA7513c9D00abf356b53880 (Note on ZKSync)
AIWS (@aiwscloud) positions itself as "the first AI-driven cloud computing platform," specifically designed for collaboration, computation, and trading of AI agents. The emergence of AIWS reflects a larger narrative: the AI agent ecosystem may be seeking specialized infrastructure support.
Although the token is deployed on ZK Sync, AIWS's services in the Solana ecosystem seem particularly targeted at AI trading agents that require substantial computing resources. This forms a complementary relationship with other AI agent projects in the ecosystem (such as C.A.T).
Therefore, it is also introduced within the Solana ecosystem; interested players should pay attention to identifying the CA address and avoid confusion.
Bainance: Even Going All Out to Mimic an Entire Department
CA:
4tViJmZ7LKREaqxrh3tXeCB5TfK7o67W3WhykHrr49ZC
No need for much introduction on who they are mimicking; the logo looks quite interesting.
Positioning itself as an "accelerator for the trenches," it mainly invests in strong communities (referred to as "cults"), "developers," and agents.
At the same time, it is very honest, as the Twitter bio has already indicated "Parody" (mimicry account).
Interestingly, the project has also gone all out, associating accounts like CZ Bainance (@czbainance), @bainanceintern (Bainance intern account), and @bAIResearch (research department account);
This project clearly adopts a multi-account collaborative operation strategy, attempting to replicate Binance's organizational structure, including laboratories, research departments, and other branches.
Beradigim: Do You Still Remember the Paradigim That Made People Tremble?
CA:
GkyKzMTELYhbhuEepJdo28CrBPfeKxCfgvRjtg2HMW4M
In the last cycle, there was a bold statement: never buy projects invested in by Paradigm. For example, Friend.tech, which is now completely forgotten.
And this VC has clearly not escaped the fate of being played with homophonic puns; Beradigim has indeed arrived.
The project is also built on daos.fun, managing its own crypto fund. The funny part is that the project interacts with the previously mentioned knockoff Binance, for example, "We received investment from Bainance," mimicking the serious funding news commonly found in crypto news.
It is worth mentioning that there is also a similarly named Beradigim on Berachain, but these are not the same project (see the image on the right). However, the parody vibe is equally strong, claiming to have created a BAO (a homophonic play on DAO), which translates to "Bear Market Autism Organization"; at the same time, it claims to establish a Kodiak liquidity pool, which is a type of bear, paying tribute to Berachain itself.
Base Ecosystem
WAI Combinator: A Direct Homophonic Version of Y Combinator
CA:
0x6112b8714221bBd96AE0A0032A683E38B475d06C
WAI Combinator is actually a project built on the Virtuals protocol, but it leans more towards investment incubation.
From the name, WAI clearly pays tribute to the well-known tech incubator Y Combinator, and its business is similar, but the projects it incubates are all within the on-chain Base ecosystem, especially early projects still in the Bonding Curve phase within Virtuals.
Its assets under management have grown from $50,000 to over $700,000 in less than two weeks, and the portfolio value has started to rise significantly (currently $500,000). At the same time, the project is continuously deploying new investments through the "Velocity" program, allowing for ongoing attention to the projects it favors.
Sekoia: A Homophonic Pun on Sequoia Capital
CA:
0x1185cB5122Edad199BdBC0cbd7a0457E448f23c7
This project is also on Virtuals, but I categorize it under investment DAOs or on-chain funds.
SEKOIA aims to create the best-performing on-chain venture capital agents. The project uses a semi-automated AI posting method, claiming to hope to surpass traditional companies and achieve better results.
From the name, it is clearly paying tribute to Sequoia, i.e., Sequoia Capital.
The project token has remained relatively stable in price compared to the other investment DAOs mentioned above during the recent downturn in the crypto market; the reason may be that the fund invested in another AI Agent token called $VOLTX, which has performed well and is favored by the market.
According to information displayed on the official website, the investment level of on-chain Sequoia is quite good, achieving profits that are 15 times its total investment.
AicroStrategy: The On-Chain Knockoff of MicroStrategy, Mainly Buying cbBTC
CA:
0x20ef84969f6d81Ff74AE4591c331858b20AD82CD
AicroStrategy is an AI hedge fund that will utilize its cbBTC holdings to maximize Bitcoin exposure. The funds raised will be used to purchase cbBTC, which will be deployed into carefully selected DeFi protocols to maximize security and leverage.
It is important to note that this project is launched on Daos.world, which is a decentralized hedge fund platform similar to daos.fun, managed by real people or AI agents. They raise funds, generate returns, and distribute profits back to DAO token holders.
Thus, one of the fund projects in daos.fun is AicroStrategy, which has its own holdings and fund management strategy.
The initial plan for the project was to deposit into Aave, borrow USDC, purchase more cbBTC, and then repeat the process. The AI algorithm will determine the optimal leverage for executing the plan.
The DAO's holdings indeed reflect that it only buys cbBTC, but it has purchased more of the brother DAO $FDREAM's tokens.
Berachain Ecosystem
Projects on Berachain have always had a bit of a meme and entertainment vibe, and they certainly won't miss out on homophonic puns, adding more "Bera" flavor to them.
Baos.fun: The Bear Chain Version of daos.fun, Committed to Humor
The naming of the Baos.fun project is clearly a mimicry of Daos.fun, which is the most prominent AI investment DAO platform in the Solana ecosystem.
However, Baos.fun has not officially launched yet, but the parody aspect is clearly more developed, as the official website states it will launch in Q5 (the fifth quarter), while it is well known that there are only four quarters in a year.
At the same time, the official website humorously associates with several other homophonic pun projects, such as Beradigm and bEliza.
Compared to some green elements of daos.fun and pump.fun, the project's Twitter has incorporated the theme color yellow of Berachain, turning it into a little yellow pill.
Currently, there is no token, and clicking to join the whitelist may guarantee more entertaining elements in the future.
3BerasCapital: Three Arrows Capital Bankrupt, Three Bears Stand Tall
CA:
0x3E64cD8Fd4d2FAe3D7f4710817885B0941838d0B (currently on Base)
Do you remember the bankrupt Three Arrows Capital from the last cycle? So they created "Three Bears" Capital. The project's logo and design replace the three arrows with three bear heads, fully embracing the silly and humorous vibe.
It is worth mentioning that since the Bear Chain is currently not online, Three Bears Capital has chosen to launch its fund management DAO on daos.world mentioned earlier.
Currently, the fund has only purchased its own 3BC token and has not acquired other AI tokens.
Starting with Knockoffs, Stronger through Subversion
After seeing so many projects playing with knockoff names and homophonic puns, does it remind you of anything?
That's right, it resembles the common model of knockoff goods in Huaqiangbei: openly telling you that it is based on the original, but with good quality and low price, possibly featuring functions you don't have.
Leveraging the popularity of original products to create marginal subversion and small innovations always finds a certain market.
In the current wave of AI, CEXs and centralized institutions (VCs or well-known project parties) are like the genuine products that Huaqiangbei wants to imitate; although they are genuine, they often fall into criticism and rebellious thoughts.
If innovation always exists in Huaqiangbei, then subversion always exists on-chain --- having what others have, having better than others, improving what is already good… After experiencing a series of events such as low liquidity VC tokens and declining credibility of exchanges, market sentiment must have an outlet, and AI is just a perfectly matched technical theme.
Using AI to clone and optimize a physical entity to improve business, this story itself will attract hot money inflow.
However, playing with knockoff homophonic puns is not a new thing.
With China's accession to the World Trade Organization and more overseas consumer brands flowing in, a wave of knockoff products surged in the country as early as 2008, such as Sike Sile, Maijie, and Leibi, which are all amusing knockoffs that everyone has likely seen.
If you ask why this is done, the principles of the business world are actually interconnected, but in the crypto world, there are more characteristics:
Riding on the recognition and popularity of original brands makes it easier to cold start and attract attention.
In the crypto world, doing so inherently carries a rebellious and entertaining spirit, a form of meme expression + serious AI technology, which adds a unique flavor.
Behind these knockoff names is a certain marketing "cunning" and the utilization of "subversive sentiment," ultimately leading to a dual harvest of marketing narrative effects and actual token performance.
There are always new assets on the blockchain; there is nothing new under the sun. When English name collisions become a trend, you may need to exit before aesthetic fatigue sets in.
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