Hyperstition #49 — July 21, 2025
Grok companions energize AI coin meta.
Grok companions prompt Solana memecoin surge
• Grok’s controversial AI avatars ignite new token meta
• LetsBONK captures top coins: Ani, rudi, and Valentine
Tokens themed around Elon Musk’s newly launched Grok AI companions are dominating Solana launchpad activity, with LetsBONK hosting the top runners and widening its lead over Pump.fun.
The frenzy began last week, when Grok introduced animated AI avatars in its iOS app. Users can interact with characters like Ani—a flirty goth girl—and Rudi—a mischievous red panda—through voice dialogue and relationship-style progression.
On July 17, Musk introduced Valentine, a brooding male character inspired by Twilight’s Edward Cullen and Christian Grey. Yesterday, Grok tipped plans for BabyGrok, a kid-friendly alternative to its NSFW adult characters.
Each avatar announcement has triggered corresponding token launches on LetsBONK, including Ani Grok Companion (Ani), rudi (rudi), and Valentine Grok Companion (Valentine).
Grok companions top memecoin charts
The standout token of the cycle is Ani. Launched July 14, the memecoin reached a peak market cap of nearly $90 million on July 16 before retracing to around $40 million as of early morning trading on July 21.
Rudi, a red panda avatar with a chaotic “Bad Rudy” mode, also launched July 14 and peaked near $18 million, now trading around $6 million.
Valentine, which spent most of its first day under $100K, surged to over $24 million on July 17 after Musk confirmed the name for the male avatar on X. It trades at $7.7 million as of July 21.
BabyGrok (Baby Grok), a token that had quietly existed for over a year with negligible volume, surged from under $15K to a high of $4.5 million following Musk’s July 20 announcement. It trades at $1.2 million as of July 16.
Parodies and speculative spin-offs
Several spin-off tokens have emerged alongside the canonical companions. Joi (Joi), a token based on Animation Inc.’s purported mascot and speculated to become a future Grok companion, launched July 14 and briefly touched $900K before falling to around $225K.
Joi is described in X posts as the “face” of Animation Inc., the studio believed to be behind Grok’s avatars via its Anichat project.
Artificial Gooning Intelligence (AGI), a satirical encapsulation of the Grok meta, launched July 14 and reached highs of nearly $4 million, now trading around $225K.
The Grok meta has also uplifted older coins.
Tetsuo Coin (TETSUO), tied to the @TetsuoAI account on X, represents a returning player from the earlier AI meta. The token launched in December 2024, peaked at $64 million in January, and bottomed below $500K before resurging to $4.5 million on July 14.
Its revival followed Musk retweeting Tetsuo’s commentary on the Grok companions. It trades around $2.6 million.
LetsBONK leads memecoin platform war
The Grok companion narrative has widened the gap between Solana’s leading memecoin platforms.
According to Dune Analytics, LetsBONK has sustained more than 50% market share nearly every day since July 6, reaching a record 67% of new launches on July 20.
In response, Pump.fun has positioned itself as an “onchain entertainment platform” rather than just a coin generator. “Our plan is to kill Facebook, TikTok, and Twitch. On Solana,” the team posted last week.
