The golden dog reappears, what story are the explosive VINE and Ainti telling?

Author: Luke, Mars Finance

Today, there is another golden dog on the chain, both of which have a market value of US$70 million. First, the late "father of anti-virus software" John McAfee's X account suddenly "resurrected", and a tweet promoting the Ainti token stirred up the market. The widow Janice claimed that this was the product of "continuing her late husband's ideals", and the market value of the token reached US$70 million in four hours. At almost the same time, Rus Yusupov, the founder of Vine, the originator of short videos that had been silent for eight years, threw out a VINECOIN. Musk's ambiguous statement of "considering restarting Vine" caused the token's market value to exceed US$200 million within seven hours of its launch.

These two carnivals may seem unrelated, but they share the same underlying logic: using the names of the dead and old feelings to feed the speculative thirst of the crypto market. The real key to the magic box may be hidden in the power whirlpool in Washington.

1. McAfee’s “Cyber ​​Evocation”

John McAfee’s legacy is undergoing a bizarre digital reincarnation. The Ainti token promoted by the widow Janice Elizabeth McAfee through her late husband However, cracks in this "commemorative event" were quickly exposed under the microscope of netizens.

Crypto community user @cometcalls discovered that Janice’s tweet used the American spelling of “honor” (instead of the British spelling of “honour”), which was inconsistent with her past tweeting habits. This detail triggered speculation: "Either her account was hacked, or there was a team behind the scenes that controlled the token project."

AI puppet show: from “digital freedom fighters” to code puppets

The absurdity of the project came to a head with the X account named @AIntivirus. The account calls itself "the AI ​​incarnation of John McAfee", declares that it will "inherit his mission to defend digital freedom", and releases a cyberpunk-style manifesto:

“In a world of surveillance states, corporate greed, and digital slavery, the AIntivirus token is the ultimate disruptor—a string of resistance code wrapped in cryptographic glory.”

The account even provides a "Conversation with John" function, claiming to replicate McAfee's thinking model through AI. However, on-chain data shows that the technical implementation of this "AI incarnation" only relies on the default reply library, and its smart contract address (CA: BaezfVmia8UYLt4rst6PCU4dVL2s2qHzqn4wGhyrpKJW) does not show any on-chain records of interaction with the AI ​​model.

The separation between ideal and reality

Although Janice wore McAfee's iconic cowboy hat during the live broadcast, played a clip of his speech before his death, and declared that "Ainti was the fire he left to the world," the data on the chain revealed another side:

• Centralization of holdings: The top ten addresses of Ainti tokens control 19.1% of the supply, and developer wallet permissions have not been given up (according to the security audit report);
• Hollow technology: The GitHub code base only updates 3 test files, and the so-called "AI replica" is actually a static text reply;
• Monopoly of power: The audit shows that the token deployer address "RUSE4J" retains the authority to freeze transactions, which is contrary to the "decentralization" promise.

Faced with doubts, Janice responded with a poetic tweet: "For 17 years, the media has distorted John's true image, and now I will use his legacy to tell the truth." But netizen @_TamekaM's comments may be closer to reality: "In encryption In the jungle, emotions can’t fill your wallet, only facts can save your life.”

2. Vine’s “Cyber ​​Mummy”: an on-chain carnival of nostalgia economy

Eight years ago, when Vine, the originator of short videos, quietly shut down its servers, no one thought that the platform that once took the world by storm with its 6-second loop videos would be "resurrected" in another form in 2025 - this time, its The carrier is not a short video, but a token symbol on the blockchain.

From "6 Seconds Legend" to "Ghost on the Chain"

In 2012, Vine emerged with revolutionary short video creativity. After being acquired by Twitter, it became a cultural phenomenon. However, the monetization difficulties of content creators and the inability of algorithm recommendations eventually led to its demise in 2017. Today, eight years later, when Musk casually said "Consider restarting Vine" on the X platform (formerly Twitter), founder Rus Yusupov immediately grabbed this traffic straw.

On January 23, 2025, Rus announced the launch of VINECOIN on the The transaction volume soared to US$180 million, and as of the publication of this article, the market value of VINECOIN has exceeded US$200 million.

The separation between promise and reality

Rus's promise is full of romanticism: "Developer tokens will be locked until April 20, and will continue to be locked until Vine truly returns." But the data on the chain revealed another layer of reality:

• The smart contract shows that the project party retains the authority to dynamically adjust transaction taxes of 3%-15%, which is in sharp contrast to the slogan of "decentralized renaissance";
• The white paper makes no mention of Vine ecological reconstruction. The token is currently just a Memecoin and has nothing to do with short video content;
• Although Musk claimed to "consider restarting", the X platform has not released any technical solutions so far, and even the video storage server has not been seen.

The essence of this "resurrection" is just like the metaphor of encryption analyst Nomos Labs: "VINECOIN is not rebuilding Vine, but casting its tombstone into an NFT - investors are auctioning a digital memory, not a real product."

Risk warning of nostalgia economy

This experiment exposed the deep-seated diseases of the encryption market:

• Hollowing out of technology: Tokens have become financial derivatives of traffic and sentiment, rather than carriers of technological innovation;
• Supervision vacuum: Project parties retain control rights through smart contracts, but avoid responsibilities in the name of "decentralization";
• Collective memory abuse: Vine’s legacy is chopped into tradable digital fragments, while true creativity lingers.

Perhaps as an anonymous developer left a message on GitHub: "We are not reviving Vine, but holding a luxurious funeral for it on the blockchain -ticket price: $42 million."

As for the future of VINECOIN, the biggest suspense is whether Musk's "considerations" will always stay in tweets?

3. The currency issuance wave of “White House Certification”

Why do the narratives of VINECOIN and Ainti make everyone so FOMO? Perhaps the answer came from the corridors of power in Washington two days ago. On January 21, Trump accepted an exclusive interview with Fox Business. When faced with a reporter’s question about “the $TRUMP currency family cashed out more than 20 billion U.S. dollars,” he first raised his eyebrows and smiled: “ I don’t know much about crypto assets. This is just a small attempt by the team.” Then he raised his hand and turned the camera to the staff behind him: “Look at these excellent partners. Their company’s market value is much higher than mine.”

This response is a model of political rhetoric:

• Responsibility cutting technique: classifying token operations as "team behavior" and avoiding the direct connection between the president's identity and financial interests;
• Moral substitution method: Use the grand narrative of "the United States needs to lead blockchain innovation" to cover up the fact of the sale of the family wallet;
• Regulatory maneuvering: Complete the token issuance before taking office to circumvent the constraints of the Presidential Asset Disclosure Act on serving officials.

The Wall Street Journal pointedly pointed out in an editorial: "Trump is converting political capital into encrypted tokens, which are more hidden and dangerous than traditional political donations." Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton warned: "The president's currency issuance has created a new era. Dangerous precedent - it turns national credit into a tool for private enrichment."

This wave of coin issuance is obviously tainted with the "White House Certified" Tag. The president's frenzied harvesting of coins can be fooled. Why shouldn't I issue coins if I have a good narrative?

But will it really be different this time?

Looking back at the currency issuance craze that swept Europe and the United States last year, its rise and fall trajectory is like the standard template of the encryption market:

Traffic god-making stage:

British singer Iggy Azalea's $MOTHER token has a market value of over $5 billion in three days as she interacts with fans through daily crypto podcasts. Its Discord channel uses AI to generate virtual idols to answer questions in real time, creating the illusion of a "never-sleeping wealth community."

The moment when trust breaks down:

When the price of $MOTHER halved, the team suddenly enabled the "emergency freeze" permission in the smart contract, claiming to "prevent malicious short selling", but in fact it prevented retail investors from selling. On-chain records show that during the freezing period, the project wallet completed the final 30% liquidation of positions.

Final verification of return to zero:

According to Dune Analytics, among the celebrity tokens issued in 2024:

• 87% of projects did not complete any of the milestones promised in the white paper
• The average return rate of developer wallets reaches 5400%, and the median loss rate of retail investors is 92%.
• 76% of the token liquidity pool was drained after the crash, and the gas fee consumption exceeded the value of the token itself.

The only "innovation" verified by this experiment is the exponential improvement in harvesting efficiency: Andrew Tate's $DADDY coins draw commissions through preset multi-level distribution, and it only takes 11 days to complete the capital transfer that takes several years in the traditional financial market.

Conclusion: Survival rules for the new cycle

Trump’s currency issuance has objectively torn apart the fragile veil of encryption supervision - when the office of the president is combined with the anonymity of the blockchain, more "compliance harvesting" models will flood into the chain.

Short-term risk map:

• Plague of imitation disks: 23 “presidential-related coins” have been born after Trump’s speech, with code similarities exceeding 90%
• Regulatory arbitrage: The project team used the presidential endorsement to locate servers in Wyoming, a state where the Crypto-Friendly Act was newly passed
• Ecotoxicity: $TRUMP currency transaction volume accounts for 70% of the Solana chain, and the liquidity of other DeFi protocols is almost exhausted

The long-run paradox:

If the "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Plan" proposed by Trump comes to fruition, it may create a paradoxical dual reality:

• The government holds Bitcoin as a reserve asset, pushing up the value of mainstream currencies
• Power groups take this opportunity to incorporate the encryption ecosystem into the traditional financial control system

Investors need to be awake: when the White House begins to forge an "officially certified" encryption narrative, the true spirit of decentralization may retreat to more fringe protocols. Those tokens that claim to "Make America Great Again" may be dragging the blockchain revolution back to Wall Street's old playbook.