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Investors file a class-action lawsuit against Andreessen Horowitz clone project., 2026/04/22 19:48:30
The New York-based law firm Burwick Law has initiated a class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of investors against the creators of the AI-related cryptocurrency project AI16Z. The plaintiffs accuse the project team of fraud and market manipulation.
In the complaint submitted to the Southern District Court of New York, it is stated that the AI16Z cryptocurrency project features a “well-designed website,” developer documentation, and a GitHub repository. The branding heavily relied on connections to the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with the project creators adopting a similar name ai16z and naming the AI agent Marc Andreessen, after the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz.
The lawsuit claims that the association between the project and the venture capital firm is fictitious. The plaintiffs assert that the AI agent presented by the AI16Z team was merely marketed as an autonomous investment system, while in reality, it was manually operated and generated no profits.
The AI16Z token was launched on October 24, 2024, on the Solana blockchain. By January of the previous year, the market capitalization of AI16Z reached an all-time high of $2.6 billion. On January 2, 2025, the token recorded a historical peak of $2.4. Currently, its price stands at $0.00055, which is 99.9% lower than its peak value.
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The plaintiffs believe that the token’s rise was meticulously orchestrated and not reflective of its fundamental attributes. Once the token hit its peak, large holders began to sell off their assets. One user sold tokens worth $2.5 million, another for $2.4 million, and a third for $4.7 million. On January 11, one trader realized a profit of $39 million, while the majority of investors incurred losses, as stated in the lawsuit.
Burwick Law estimated that during the collapse of the AI16Z token, owners of 3,945 addresses suffered financial losses. The attorneys accuse the creators of the cryptocurrency project of violating U.S. consumer protection laws and engaging in false advertising. Burwick Law is seeking restitution for its clients who purchased the token from October 24, 2024, until the date of the lawsuit filing.
The complaint also mentions that Andreessen Horowitz itself demanded that AI16Z cease using its name. The defendants subsequently rebranded the project to ELIZAOS and conducted a token migration. Nearly 40% of the tokens were allocated to insiders, including anonymous private investors and team members, according to the plaintiffs.
Last year, Burwick Law filed a lawsuit against Kelsier Ventures, KIP Protocol, and Meteora, accusing them of fraud related to the controversial Libra token, which received backing from Argentine President Javier Milei.
