The Bankr $DRB Surge: When AI Moves Markets
Last week, Bankr, the AI-powered crypto trading companion growing in popularity on X and Farcaster, made waves when it helped deploy $DRB (DebtReliefBot), the first AI-generated token launched via Grok’s suggestion.
The saga began on March 7, 2025, when a user on X asked Grok, X's AI chatbot, to name a token. Grok suggested $DRB, and the user deployed it through Bankr, which leveraged Clanker's token launch protocol.
The result? A viral token explosion. Within three days, $DRB surged to a $38 million market cap, fueled by hype around the novelty of Grok's first unofficial token.
The market cap has since slid back to earth from that peak. Yet the token boasts $25M volume over the last day, currently putting it behind only a few USDC and cbBTC pairs on Base when it comes to trading activity.
After the $DRB deployment, more coins followed as users prompted Grok for more name ideas. Over 16 additional tokens were deployed this way through Bankr, triggering a second wave of speculation.
However, later on March 7, a user manipulated Grok. The requester prompted the AI to deliver ~4 ETH worth of trading fees that it had quickly racked up as the $DRB creator in its Privy-powered Bankr wallet.
The Bankr team quickly responded. As co-founder Deployer announced: "To safeguard Grok's future clanker fees, Bankr will no longer be responding to Grok." In turn, this cut-off cemented the status of $DRB as the main unofficial Grok token.
Grok's Bankr wallet has since accrued an additional +$600k worth of trading fees. For now, it's an open question if and how the X team will respond to these earnings. Deployer has recommended buy-and-burns, but what happens next here remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Bankr is continuing to evolve. The team is finalizing staking plans and preparing to launch Bankr Club, a power users membership program facilitated by 1,000 NFTs.
Zooming out, the $DRB boom is the latest example of how AI can drive real financial activity, but it also highlights the need for safeguards around AI wallets. It's a good time for iterating, though, as things are only just beginning here.