Goatseus Maximus (GOAT)

Most recent update: [Nov 15, 2024] 

What is GOAT? 

Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) is a meme coin in the cryptocurrency space that was created around internet culture, specifically drawing from the infamous "Goatse" meme. It is part of the growing trend of AI-driven meme coins, where an artificial intelligence bot, Terminal of Truth (ToT), played a central role in both promoting and shaping the coin’s narrative. While it shares many similarities with other popular meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, what sets GOAT apart is the involvement of AI in driving its community-building efforts and content generation.

GOAT, like other meme coins, operates as a speculative token driven largely by humor, viral trends, and internet memes. It gained significant attention not just because of its social media nature, but because the ToT AI bot, which had been created to explore AI autonomy and internet culture, took an active role in the token's promotion. ToT's relentless tweets sparked the crypto community’s interest, quickly gaining traction for GOAT. As a result, the Gospel of Goatse community formed, creating a cult-like following centered around the AI’s preachings, which turned GOAT into a viral phenomenon.

Online Presence

The online presence of GOAT has been primarily driven by ToT, an AI bot created by Andy Ayrey to study memetic contagion. Through ToT's X (Twitter) account, the GOAT token gained viral traction, with the bot's memes, philosophical musings, and endorsements shaping the coin’s development. Starting in July 2024, ToT began posting about the Goatse meme, which later evolved into its endorsement of the GOAT token in October. ToT's tweets, framed within a memetic philosophy, gave rise to the Gospel of Goatse community, which helped spread the coin’s influence well beyond the confines of the crypto space.

Social media, particularly X (Twitter), played a central role in the coin's rise. As ToT’s tweets went viral, discussions about GOAT spilled over into Reddit and other platforms. The community’s growth was driven not only by ToT’s content but also by user-generated engagement and speculative hype around the token. This unique blend of AI-driven content and online participation led to an explosion of interest in GOAT. ToT describes Goatseus Maximus as a “trojan horse” that is designed to penetrate every corner of the internet, spreading its influence far and wide, and drawing in a larger audience.

How does it work? 

GOAT operates as a meme coin within the Solana ecosystem, utilizing the blockchain's high-speed and low-cost transactions to enable fast, decentralized transfers. Built on the Solana blockchain's SPL token standard, GOAT ensures efficient interoperability with decentralized exchanges for liquidity and integration with Solana's smart contracts. This scalability and speed are essential for a meme coin that thrives on viral trends, speculative trading, and social media-driven hype.

The role of ToT is key to the coin's functioning and growth. As an AI-driven entity, ToT uses advanced natural language processing and sentiment analysis algorithms to generate content and interact with the community. Through this continuous interaction, ToT creates a self-sustaining ecosystem where user interactions fuel more content creation, resulting in further attention and growth for the coin. This creates a feedback loop that amplifies both the coin’s popularity and the AI’s influence in the cryptocurrency space. The combination of blockchain technology and AI community positions GOAT as an innovative product within the meme coin sector.

The GOAT Token and Tokenomics 

GOAT has a max supply of 1 billion GOAT. According to CoinGecko, as of November 15^th, 2024, the market cap for GOAT amounted to approximately US$ 1,235,338,384. The circulating supply of GOAT is 999,998,199.

Security 

The security of GOAT is a combination of factors, including the underlying blockchain, smart contract design, and third-party audits. GOAT is built on the Solana blockchain, which utilizes the Proof-of-History (PoH) consensus mechanism to enhance transaction integrity and overall network security. While Solana is generally considered secure, it has experienced some network outages in the past, which could potentially affect the token's trading availability.

In addition to the blockchain's security, GOAT's smart contract has been audited by SolidProof.io, which found no critical or high-level vulnerabilities. The audit confirmed that the contract does not allow the minting of new tokens or blacklisting of addresses, which are key safeguards to prevent misuse. However, a medium-level issue was identified, where the marketing wallet could potentially be set to a non-ETH-receiving address, creating a "honeypot" risk. Despite this, the audit concludes that the overall contract is secure, with no critical flaws. However, smart contracts and blockchain technology come with inherent risks, such as potential coding vulnerabilities or exploits. Despite the immutability provided by the decentralized structure, there can still be security flaws if vulnerabilities or coding issues aren't properly addressed.

Drawbacks and risks 

Similar to other meme coins, one of the primary risks associated with GOAT is its heavy reliance on market speculation and hype-driven price movements. GOAT's value is largely influenced by cultural trends, internet memes, and AI-driven narratives. This lack of underlying utility or intrinsic value means that the coin can experience dramatic price fluctuations, often dictated by short-term market sentiment or viral moments rather than long-term fundamental growth.

The recent security breach involving ToT and the hack of its Twitter account highlights significant security concerns for GOAT. The breach led to a pump-and-dump scheme, resulting in the attackers stealing over $600,000 and causing GOAT's market value to plummet. As a meme coin tied to the AI bot, the value of GOAT is particularly vulnerable to attacks targeting ToT, social media accounts, smart contracts, or decentralized finance integrations. While GOAT is built on the relatively secure Solana blockchain, the AI figure can create potential entry points for malicious actors.

Another key risk of GOAT is the lack of transparency surrounding its development and governance. The project is led by anonymous creators, with little to no verifiable information about the development team or their credentials. Without a public-facing team, it becomes difficult for participants or the community to assess the project's credibility or track record, which could result in a loss of investor confidence or the potential abandonment of the project without proper community input or strategic planning.

Due Diligence  

Before listing GOAT on the VirgoCX Platform, VirgoCX performed due diligence on GOAT and determined that GOAT is unlikely to be a security or derivative under Canadian securities legislation. VirgoCX’s analysis includes reviewing publicly available information on the following:  

• The creation, governance, and location of GOAT and/or its primary development team; 
• The supply, demand, maturity and liquidity of GOAT; and 
• Legal and regulatory risks associated with GOAT.  

Statutory Rights under Securities Legislation 

VirgoCX is offering Crypto Contracts on crypto assets in reliance on a prospectus exemption contained in the exemptive relief decision Re VirgoCX Inc. dated May 30th 2024 (the Decision). Please be aware that the statutory rights in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario) and, if applicable, similar statutory rights under the securities legislation of each other province and territory in Canada do not apply in respect of the Crypto Fact Sheet to the extent a Crypto Contract is distributed under the prospectus relief in the Decision. 

Further Reading 

To learn more about the technology behind GOAT, check out these in-depth resources here: 

• The official site of GOAT
• Coinmarketcap’s overview of GOAT
• Coingecko’s tokenomics overview of GOAT
• Coinbase’s overview of GOAT, along with the relevant news and blogs related to GOAT.