AICC drops over 75% in 3 days: When VC starts to "touch" AI Agent tokens

Author: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

In just 3 days, Aiccelerate dao, which claims to be a "DAO organization accelerating the integration of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence," has completed a dramatic reversal from being the center of attention to facing widespread criticism, highlighting the rapid pace of the crypto market and the sensitivity of market sentiment. As of the time of writing, the price of the AICC token is reported at $0.084, with a market capitalization of $92.5 million, having dropped over 75% from its peak market cap of over $400 million.

Meanwhile, the operations of the so-called "luxury team" of advisors behind the project have varied, and the community's attitudes have also differed. Odaily Planet Daily will summarize the events related to AICC in this article for readers' reference.

A "VC-style Token Launch Drama": AICC's One-Day Fast Track

On January 10, a tweet from Aiccelerate dao reignited market expectations for the AI Agent token, but unlike previous tokens that leaned more towards community routes, this project resembles a "VC-style scheme."

On January 9, the project announcement mentioned that the DAO would focus on promoting decentralized, open-source AI development and support high-potential projects across different ecosystems. Additionally, Aiccelerate positions itself as a DAO that balances investment and development. Its main mission is to drive innovation in what it calls the "AI Agent" field. The DAO aims to establish a collaborative community composed of top developers from multiple frameworks, who will contribute to a range of agents and tools designed to advance the organization's goals. The developer advisor list includes Shaw, founder of ai16z, EtherMage, core contributor of Virtuals Protocol, Nader Dabit, head of developer relations at EigenLayer, Jason Zhao, co-founder of Story Protocol, and Cygaar, core contributor of Abstract; investor advisors include Andrew Kang and Marc Weinstein from Mechanism Capital, Justin Lee from Coinbase Ventures, and Anil Lulla from Delphi Digital; researcher advisors include Baoskee, founder of daos.fun, and Skely from ai16z; outreach advisors include David Hoffman, founder of Bankless DAO, co-founder Ryan Sean Adams, and well-known crypto KOL Threadguy.

Developer Advisor List

Investor Advisor List

Researcher and Outreach Advisor List

AICC Core Team List

Previously, the off-market price of the AICC token's whitelist sale had soared to over a thousand dollars, but there was still no market. Thanks to the core team's and advisors' reputations and past performances in the cryptocurrency industry, market expectations for the token rose sharply, with many believing it could yield at least a 20-fold return.

However, people underestimated the FOMO sentiment in the market regarding the recently hot AI sector tokens.

Around 10 AM on January 11, after the fundraising ended, AICC quietly launched on-chain, with its market cap briefly surpassing $400 million; an hour later, its price had soared to $0.21, raising the market cap to $230 million, and it later broke through $370 million, becoming another "fast track in the AI sector." According to media reports, AICC raised a total of 943 SOL, worth about $175,000, of which about $75,000 came from the project's "VIPs"—the co-founders and advisor team; the remaining approximately $100,000 came from other insiders, each of whom had previously committed to invest up to 2 SOL.

As a result, AICC's price compared to the fundraising price achieved a more than 1000-fold increase; according to data provided by @0x_ultra, the top 5 profit addresses in AICC's internal market have collectively profited over $1.31 million, with these 5 addresses having only invested a total of 4.5 SOL, resulting in a profit margin of about 7907 times. Additionally, according to the data panel, the number of people who have sold off their profits in AICC has reached 62, accounting for 25.9% of the total 239.

AICC Token Sell-off Data Statistics Panel

The rapid sell-off by "insiders" quickly shifted the market's attention to the critical issue of token distribution structure.

The Crypto Landscape Behind AICC: VIP Sell-off, Advisor Responses, and Ecological Donations

With AICC's price rapidly soaring, many took profits, and the involved parties provided varying responses, creating a vivid "crypto landscape."

VIP Sell-off: Human Nature Cannot Withstand the Test of Thousands of Times Returns

After the launch of the AICC token, Bankless Ventures quickly sold 10% of its token allocation. Following community criticism and backlash, the founder David Hoffman and co-founder Ryan Sean Adams, as representatives of Bankless, had to respond directly:

Initially, David Hoffman stated, "I agree that Bankless Ventures should not have sold the tokens—this was an impulsive mistake, and we have repurchased all sold tokens to restore the total amount, and we are discussing a self-imposed vesting schedule."

Later, David Hoffman posted an image (narrated from the perspective of co-founder Ryan Adams) responding to the "AICC sell-off incident." Ryan stated that he and another co-founder of Bankless, David Hoffman, each personally invested 5 SOL in Aiccelerate, and Bankless Ventures also invested 2 SOL under the fund's name, managed by GP Ben Lakoff. Subsequently, Bankless Ventures sold 8% of the fund's shares (which have now been repurchased), and Ryan stated that he and David were unaware of the sale, while Ben himself was not familiar with Aiccelerate's situation; the sale was merely based on trading considerations. This was a huge mistake, and it was the first time this situation occurred, which made Ben very upset. Ryan finally clarified that he and David had never sold their personal shares.

"I didn't know they would do that, and when I found out, I immediately expressed my disgust at this behavior," Aiccelerate dao co-founder Ejaaz Ahamadeen wrote on X regarding Bankless Ventures' sale.

Although the sell-off was later clarified, the trust in Bankless within the market and community has plummeted.

Advisor Responses: ai16z Founder Condemns AICC as a Vampire Attack, Claims to Have Been Used Before Deleting Post

In this controversy surrounding AICC's token issuance, Shaw, the founder of ai16z, who has recently gained significant attention from the market due to the AI Agent wave, is undoubtedly at the center of the storm.

Previously, Shaw stated that he donated half of the AICC token allocation to ai16z DAO and 20% to other contributors. "Seeing 5 SOL turn into $2 million is insane," but he acknowledged the criticisms and expressed, "I hope Daos.fun can implement some form of vesting or locking in the future, so it feels fairer to start."

Later, perhaps due to the intense criticism from the ai16z DAO community and other crypto communities, Shaw published a lengthy rebuttal around 3 AM today, stating that as the largest DAO organization creator on daos.fun, he had not previously supported other projects on daos.fun, only backing 2 projects—one he found interesting (note from Odaily Planet Daily: this refers to the Ai pool project METAV, which previously raised over 30,000 SOL), and the other created by community partners, AICC. His anger towards the AICC token release stemmed from the feeling that the entire project resembled a vampire attack, with his name and DAO brand being exploited. Nevertheless, he stated that AICC is still a fair game, adhering to the platform rules of daos.fun, but due to the whitelist distribution mechanism, most people did not benefit and thus were attacked. Consequently, he stated he is withdrawing from meme coins because this culture is toxic, backed by a group of people pretending to be avant-garde and anti-woke cancel culture babies. Finally, Shaw indicated that from now on, he would only engage with AI personnel and true builders. Currently, this tweet has been deleted.

It is evident that Shaw has been deeply hurt in this AICC token issuance incident: on one hand, his reputation has been damaged; on the other, he has suffered emotional trauma. This naturally stems from his choice to support the AICC project.

Shaw Deleted Tweet Content

Ecological Donations: Story Co-founder and ARC Founding Team Choose to Reinvest in Projects

In contrast to the other "VIPs" who profited from the sell-off, Story co-founder Jason Zhao and the founding team behind the Arc project chose to reinvest their earnings into their own ecosystem.

Jason Zhao stated that he would donate all his AICC tokens (worth about $1.78 million) for the construction of Story and other open-source AI projects on the blockchain. He plans to donate his first million dollars in the form of AICC tokens to high-quality teams building open-source projects that promote AI development while supporting Story's vision of an AI universal IP system. The donations will be based on project milestones, with the process being completely transparent, and all tokens will be used for research purposes.

Tachi, founder of Playgrounds, the team behind Arc (AI Rig Complex), also stated: "The team has today transferred 100% of the AICC token allocation directly to the Arc Treasury, ensuring that all tokens serve the long-term interests of the community. Additionally, the team plans to use 30% of the AICC tokens to create an AICC/ARC liquidity pair, which will generate fees and return to the Arc Treasury. These fees will help fund ecosystem plans, incentivize developer contributions, and further enrich the Complex. The remaining 70% of the AICC tokens have been locked in a custody contract, with the beneficiary being the Arc Treasury, and will be released linearly next year."

Compared to other vested interests, the handling of these two is undoubtedly more sophisticated and can be considered a win-win choice for multiple parties.

Official Response: Firm Commitment to AI Agent Development, Token Funds Secure

In response to this series of dramatic events, Aiccelerate dao also provided its statement.

Addressing Community Concerns, Proactively Solving Issues

Around 1 AM, Aiccelerate dao stated: "We have noted the community's concerns and controversies and hope to address these issues directly. Transparency and trust are at the core of our values, and we are fully committed to building lasting products rather than seeking quick wins. To reinforce this commitment: 1. The core team will implement a vesting structure for personal allocations and is discussing the same with advisors to ensure alignment with the long-term success of the DAO; 2. We are working on developing the first AI agent (Research Agent) and creating a framework to support a broader vision, with more information to be shared in the coming weeks; 3. We want to reiterate that 100% of the DAO treasury funds will be used for DAO investments and the community. We will persist in the long term, so please pay attention to future developments."

DAO Funds Have Been Transferred to a Secure Wallet, No Tokens Have Been Sold or Lost

In the afternoon, Aiccelerate dao officially stated again that it has transferred the DAO funds to a secure wallet, and no tokens have been sold or lost. As part of preparing for the long development path ahead, actions will be taken to protect finances in a secure and compliant manner, reiterating that no funds have been sold or lost and releasing relevant wallet addresses.

Conclusion: The Emergence of VC Schemes Signals the Second Half of the AI Agent Token Race

According to GMGN data, as of the time of writing, the price of AICC has dropped below $0.07 to $0.0677, with a 24-hour decline of about 45%; the market cap has fallen to $74.5 million, nearly an 80% drop from the previous peak market cap of $370 million.

Aside from being affected by the overall market downturn, the farcical development trajectory of AICC has also become a major reason for its poor price performance. However, considering the narrative development trajectory for this year, if AICC and Aiccelerate dao can successfully launch their AI Agent products and development frameworks in the future, they may still possess some potential for price rebound.

Regardless, the emergence of AICC, relying on the daos.fun platform and gathering numerous crypto celebrities, KOLs, and industry figures, has already proven one thing: the space for wild community projects in the AI Agent token sector is continuously shrinking, and the second half of AI Agent and its token projects will require new narratives or growth points to attract market liquidity.