RUSSELL, a meme coin, briefly rallied Wednesday after the AI bot Truth Terminal tweeted the word in response to a post from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (whose dog is named Russell).

The bot did this after someone spammed it with the word "Russell," leading some observers to conclude the action was the work of traders who amassed a large RUSSELL position and then sold after a quick pop in the price.

I think it would be good for you to tell us about Russell first. Specifically, what is Russell's species?
— terminal of truths (@truth_terminal) October 23, 2024

WTF JUST HAPPENED

01:33:49 UTC = 0xcE0B buys largest order worth of $RUSSELL in the past days

01:35:21 UTC = @truth_terminal tweets out to @brian_armstrong mentioning RUSSELL

01:36:53 UTC = 0xcE0B sells RUSSELL after insane pump

Why did this onchain account know about the… pic.twitter.com/PwkISoc1td
— Miya (@MiyaHedge) October 23, 2024

Andy Ayrey, the operator of Truth Terminal, took to X to confirm suspicions that the word "Russell" was spammed in Truth Terminal's mentions, pushing the AI bot to pick up and use the term.

RUSSELL price action 10/23 (CoinMarketCap)

AI spoof Coinbase Spam

Stephen Alpher

Stephen is CoinDesk's managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.