The Rise and Fall of GROK: A Memecoin Tied to Elon Musk’s AI Project
In a shocking turn of events, the price of the memecoin GROK, inspired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence project “Grok AI,” plummeted by over 70% following allegations made by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT. The sleuth claimed that the token’s social media account had been recycled from a scam token project. This revelation sent shockwaves through the memecoin community, leading to a massive decline in GROK’s value.
ZachXBT took to X (formerly Twitter) on November 13th to share screenshots showing various social media accounts and websites associated with the GROK token, which were repurposed from old projects, including an abandoned memecoin called ANDY. The ANDY token had experienced a significant decline from its all-time high, adding fuel to the fire. The evidence presented by ZachXBT was enough to cause panic among GROK investors.
Within five hours of ZachXBT’s post, GROK’s price tumbled by a staggering 74%, dropping from its all-time high of $0.027 to as low as $0.007. Although the price has slightly recovered to $0.011 according to DexTools data, the damage had already been done. GROK’s value had taken a major hit.
In an attempt to restore confidence in the token, GROK’s development team took action. ZachXBT highlighted an Etherscan transaction that showed the team burning approximately $1.7 million worth of GROK tokens, aiming to reduce the token’s supply. While this move was intended to reassure investors, the impact on the token’s overall value remained uncertain.
Following these events, the official GROK account on X released a statement on November 14th, claiming that the development team had burned all the tokens from the deployer address. This burn amounted to 180 million GROK tokens, equivalent to around $2 million at current prices. The team hoped that this action would help rebuild trust and faith in the project.
Prior to the controversy, GROK had experienced significant success in the memecoin market. At its peak price of $0.027 on November 13th, the token boasted a market capitalization of nearly $200 million, making it one of the largest memecoins in the current cycle. GROK was launched on November 5th, coinciding with Elon Musk’s announcement of Grok AI, which was positioned as a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This alignment with Musk’s AI project fueled the hype surrounding GROK, leading to a staggering 33,650% increase in its value within a week.
The rise and fall of GROK serve as a reminder of the volatility and risks associated with memecoins and the importance of conducting thorough due diligence before investing. While the initial excitement surrounding GROK seemed promising, the allegations made by ZachXBT shed light on potential fraudulent practices tied to the token’s development. Investors must exercise caution and skepticism when considering investments in such projects.
