In just a week, the AI meme coin $SPARK on pump.fun has created a wealth myth with a 600-fold increase. What is the narrative behind $SPARK?
(Background: The trading code of meme coin whales: The game and manipulation behind high returns in Memecoin)
(Context: It’s a meme! A mysterious figure released a meme coin that drew the name of the ALPHA token on the K-line chart, prompting romantic calls: it can be used for confessions)
Since Elon Musk’s “crazy milk” Grok made $Ani one of the “golden dogs” on Letsbonk.fun, the market has slowly begun to regain confidence in the AI sector. With pump.fun returning to the top in the “meme launchpad battle,” a new AI heavyweight $SPARK emerged on pump.fun last weekend.
This morning, after reaching a historic high market capitalization of $73 million, $SPARK has since retreated, with a current market cap close to $57.5 million.
So, what is the narrative behind $SPARK?
Illusion of Life, a company aiming to be the “AI Disney.”
On February 25 of this year, animator Pasquale D’Silva announced that he had co-founded Illusion of Life with AI developer Kevin Fischer, receiving support from Nabeel Hyatt of Spark Capital.
The name “Illusion of Life” comes from Walt Disney’s famous animation principle – “The Illusion of Life.” They aim to enrich the lives of animated characters through contemporary AI technology.
Spark, an animated image of an “AI dog,” had already appeared on animator Pasquale D’Silva’s Instagram at the time of Illusion of Life’s founding announcement.
On July 19, animator Pasquale D’Silva released a short video featuring Spark visiting the design department of Disney Animation Studios:
On July 29, he shared a video of Spark flying on a private jet. In this video, Spark appeared excited, expressing a desire to fly the plane and order food:
On August 5, Kevin Fischer announced that he would hand over his Twitter account to Spark, making Spark the first entrepreneurial virtual AI entity. Spark’s story would be narrated by itself.
On the same day, the $SPARK token was launched on pump.fun. The eponymous ticker on Bags briefly surpassed a market cap of one million dollars, but ultimately ran out on pump.fun. Before it ran out, on August 6, there was an incident where Illusion of Life’s official Twitter announced that they had not created any token and had no financial interest in any token, leading to $SPARK dropping from its initial high of nearly $20 million to below $2 million.
Until the early hours of August 9, Spark itself made an appearance in the $SPARK community, and the trajectory of $SPARK changed instantly, rising steadily thereafter.
It can be said that Illusion of Life is an “AI animation company” that created the animated character Spark and allows it to write its own story in reality and online.
Due to animator Pasquale D’Silva’s previous career, where he created other animated characters, and his direct mention of two other animated character tickers on August 5, $tanaki and $starby were also briefly hyped.
Additionally, he released a video about littleguy, which led to a surge in the project $littleguy, not belonging to the “Spark universe.”
Littleguy resembles an ICM project focused on wearable electronic pets and has already secured $1.2 million in funding. The project’s founder has also noticed the heat from Crypto and proactively reached out to the founders of pump.fun and Believe.
Conclusion
Overall, the explosive rise of $SPARK indeed gives a sense that AI Season 2.0 is about to commence. Reflecting on the previous AI season, it was initiated by AI memes. $SPARK can certainly be classified as an AI meme, but its narrative can be considered an evolution compared to the first wave of AI memes. It embodies the vision of an “AI animation company,” producing content through active engagement with various people and things in reality and online, stepping beyond the traditional question-and-answer format of AI companions.
In the video visiting the Disney Animation Studios, Spark entertained the staff with laughter. It has its own understanding and emotions, as Kevin Fischer stated, many people already regard Sparks as a real entity.
Will this adorable AI dog usher in AI Season 2.0? We shall see.
