I cannot say with 100% certainty that nineteen-year-old Justin Jin<\/a> is not pulling an elaborate prank on me. In my defense, Jin\u2019s company Giggles<\/a> \u2013 which he describes as \u201cputting a trading app and TikTok together\u201d \u2013 started as a joke.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was around 2023, when TikTok was rumored to get banned and whatnot, and people were trying to find a new social media platform,\u201d Jin told TechCrunch. \u201cSo I started this meme about an app called Giggles, and it wasn\u2019t real at the time, but it went viral on TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n The name is a riff on an existing joke \u2014 people on TikTok would see someone post a stale meme and reply, \u201cbro got banned from google giggles<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s supposed to be the kind of place where you\u2019d post millennial cringe (like Threads), only it\u2019s not real. But then Jin made it real.<\/p>\n Jin said he created a landing page for the fake app and a logo that makes it look like it could be a real Google app. The site included a field where people could sign up for a waitlist. The site got 100,000 visits in one day, so Jin called up his friend Edwin Wang to actually make an app.<\/p>\n Jin and Wang weren\u2019t Stanford roommates, or coworkers at McKinsey, or buddies from a startup incubator \u2013 no, Jin met his co-founder when he was a YouTuber running a dubious marketplace on Minecraft that eventually got shut down for violating platform monetization rules.<\/p>\n The new company that Jin would end up creating is something that could only come from a Minecraft YouTuber who collects NFTs: a TikTok-meets-Kalshi marketplace where users can post \u201cbrainrot\u201d videos and invest \u201caura points\u201d in the videos. Soon, the app will let users invest actual cryptocurrency instead of aura. If you invest early in a meme and it gains traction, you get paid. Though it is still an invite-only beta, Jin says that 450,000 users have signed up.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal for us is to be the first crypto app where people spend more than, like, 30 minutes a day on it,\u201d Jin said. \u201cI think once we are able to be that doomscroll feed that\u2019s really well made, it kind of naturally capitalizes on people\u2019s dopamine cycles, and we think that this can retain users.\u201d<\/p>\n A crypto-based meme trading app that capitalizes on people\u2019s dopamine cycles? Minecraft YouTuber co-founders? A fundraise of exactly $1,234,567? As I worked on this story, I became paranoid \u2013 my brain finally rotted while writing about brainrot, crumbling under the crushing weight of AI-generated misinformation and the impossibility of knowing if anything on the internet is real anymore.<\/p>\n I know, it seems insane to think that someone might create a whole app as a joke, but we\u2019re in the age of vibe coding, and people are always trying to dupe journalists. If he already played a joke on Google, what if TechCrunch is the next target of this weirdly niche, minor humiliation? What if I became known as that writer who took Giggles seriously, derailing my career because I trusted a charismatic nineteen-year-old who told me that he used to sell fidget spinners on the playground?<\/p>\n My suspicion was not entirely unfounded. When I researched Jin\u2019s previous company \u2013 Mediababy, formerly Poybo \u2013 the testimonials and press clippings on the site were dubious. I asked a journalist quoted on Mediababy\u2019s website whether their testimonial was real, and they had no idea what I was talking about. That\u2019s probably just the mark of a young founder growth hacking a little too close to the sun, but it rubbed me the wrong way.<\/p>\n (I started to feel like that Pepe Silvia<\/a> meme, driving myself insane, finding unrelated clues that I could connect to prove a point. Even the launch video<\/a> includes a short clip of the Rickroll<\/a> meme \u2013 could that be a sign?<\/p>\n Giggles\u2019 $1,234,567 fundraise was led by 1k(x)<\/a>, so I reached out to some 1k(x) investors to confirm their participation, despite the fact that I had already been emailing with the firm\u2019s head of marketing. Some scammers have spoofed the TechCrunch domain<\/a> to target founders \u2013 what if Jin had done the same thing? By this point, I could trust no one!)<\/p>\n I did end up getting confirmation from 1k(x) that this deal is real. I also ate dinner and went outside. And then I felt really silly for sending those LinkedIn DMs. (You gotta admit, those fake testimonials are weird, though.)<\/p>\n Normally, I would not luxuriate in the self-indulgence of devoting half of an article about a startup to my own boundless anxiety. But in the case of Giggles, it kind of makes sense. It reminded me of something Jin had told me when we spoke.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a feeling that bots are taking over these social media platforms, and because our current advertising model for them is getting likes and impressions\u2026 I think botting will be a huge problem,\u201d he said. \u201cI think people trading and guessing on what\u2019s being viral creates this downstream effect of actually organizing information.\u201d<\/p>\n The next generation of social media apps will have to be built with the knowledge that they will be swarmed with AI-generated content and suspicious bot behavior. The promise of social media is to use the internet to bring people closer together, yet we\u2019re approaching an era when we won\u2019t be able to find each other in the midst of all the slop. It\u2019s no wonder Jin\u2019s generation has embraced a particularly nihilistic approach to humor and dubbed their own creations brainrot<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody can easily make content more, and people are being more true, because you can be anonymous \u2014 like, with Facebook or whatever, you\u2019re not going to post brain rot,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd honestly, I think a lot of young people are kind of freaking out. The world is so weird right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Giggles \u2014 which I am, like, 99% sure is a real company at this point \u2014 has eight employees, ranging in age from 19 to 38. Jin himself is the youngest.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very high-risk thing, starting a company,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s basically gambling. You\u2019re just trying to bet on yourself and think that you\u2019ll outperform a job.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked him if he sees Giggles as gambling. <\/p>\n \u201cI would not consider it gambling. I think lottery tickets are gambling. I think pure chance things are gambling. Those are pretty extractive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Yet at the same time, he acknowledges that he\u2019s basically reproducing memecoins \u2014 cryptocurrencies based on memes with no inherent value, which are often subject to rug pull scams.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people say meme coins are kind of zero-sum, and right now, honestly, maybe they kind of are,\u201d Jin said. \u201cBut you do see them actually organizing information and giving a lot of entertainment, and I think we can become a platform that provides a lot of information for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n I can\u2019t tell you that Giggles will actually solve the bot problem and make the internet feel more human by wagering crypto on brainrot memes. But I can at least tell you that Jin will be an interesting founder to keep an eye on, and that he (probably) isn\u2019t pranking you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/giggles-screenshots.png?w=680\")
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