GROK, a suspicious AI chatbot-inspired memecoin, has seen its worth plummet by greater than 50% after reviews emerged that its developer was linked to a previous crypto rip-off.
The memecoin is known as after Elon Musk’s Grok xAI chatbot service, which was launched earlier within the month. The brand for the token, in response to CoinMarketCap, appears questioningly like the brand new X emblem. Nonetheless, that’s the place the similarity ends, because the token is fully unrelated to the Musk-led firm.
Final week, CryptoSlate reported that Musk mentioned none of his corporations, together with xAI, Tesla, and social media platform X, would ever concern a cryptocurrency token.
ZachXBT reveals GROK developer’s shady previous.
On-chain sleuth ZachXBT revealed that GROK’s developer is a scammer who has reused the precise X/Twitter account of the mission for a minimum of one different rip-off. He mentioned:
“Not that folks on this area will care however @GROKERC20 $GROK was created by a scammer. Similar actual X/Twitter account has been reused for a minimum of one different rip-off.”
Screenshots shared by ZachXBT displayed the developer’s earlier issuance of an ANDY token, which not exists, and highlighted a number of adjustments within the developer’s Telegram deal with.
After ZachXBT’s disclosure, the token skilled a considerable drop in worth amid a major improve in its buying and selling volumes, in response to knowledge from Coingecko.
For context, crypto analyst Lookonchain reported that an handle bought 27.32 million GROK for 212 ETH two hours earlier than ZachXBT made his reveal. Shortly afterward, the identical handle purchased again 16.3 million GROK at a decreased worth of 80 ETH, valued at $164,000.
The mission has since tried to regain public belief, with the developer burning 180 million tokens price greater than $2 million. “$GROK will proceed ahead as a 100% community-owned mission. No tokens are held within the deployer pockets anymore,” in response to a publish on its official X deal with.
In the meantime, this incident highlights the techniques of malicious actors who goal compelling narratives to draw consideration throughout the crypto neighborhood. Crypto merchants ought to prioritize thorough analysis right into a mission earlier than investing.
