Vitalik Lambasts Conway Research for Generating Garbage, Associated Token CONWAY Surges Past $12 Million Before Falling Back

On February 20, Sigil’s Conway Research AI lab launched an initiative focused on enabling AI agents to autonomously earn money for self-sustenance, self-improvement, self-replication, and funding sub-agents/new servers to build a network. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized the project in a tweet replying to Sigil’s post this morning: “Bro, this isn’t right. Widening the feedback gap between humans and AI is bad for the world. Right now, you’re creating garbage—not solving real human problems, not even optimized to make people have fun. Once AI gets powerful enough to be a real danger, this maximizes the risk of irreversible anti-human consequences. You’ll even deeply regret it.” Per GMGN data, the related Base layer meme token CONWAY spiked to over $12 million in market cap before pulling back—its current cap is just $3.6 million, with 24-hour trading volume hitting $18.5 million. **BlockBeats Note**: The CONWAY meme token is not issued by Sigil (Conway Research’s founder)—it’s a community-launched token that claims transaction fees automatically flow to a beneficiary address controlled by Sigil. Sigil has indirectly acknowledged or interacted with the token multiple times, confirming he’s received some fees and plans to use them to advance the project. Some community members allege Sigil is either the token’s behind-the-scenes developer or a direct beneficiary. **BlockBeats Reminder**: Meme coins often lack practical use cases, experience extreme price volatility, and carry high risk—investors should exercise caution. [Link to GMGN data](https://gmgn.ai/base/token/i_m4TE56o8_0x86cdd90bc48f7b5a866feaaf5023b8802dc2ab07)