The collision between machine learning and Web3 has led to a market-defying rally for AI tokens, a niche category of crypto assets related to artificial intelligence platforms. Recent market data from the crypto exchange Gate.io shows that AGIX, the native asset of SingularityNET, spiked over 20% in 24hrs before falling back but is still up over 500% in the past month. In contrast, market leaders like Ethereum had much less momentum.
Alongside SingularityNET (AGIX), other AI tokens like Fetch (FET) and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) experienced similar rallies. As a result, these platforms now sit among the top 150 coins after months of upwards movement as interest in AI-related technologies in both the crypto space and the broader tech industry continues to grow.
Further, the stock market has also been experiencing rising interest in AI as mega-tech companies like Microsoft and Google battle to produce the next major artificial intelligence breakthrough.
An emerging decentralized AI ecosystem
Last year we all saw how ChatGPT, an advanced chatbot developed by OpenAI, went viral after millions of users tested its ability to create and review programming code, write coherent text, and even become the product of memes. This has led to a market surge generated by hype. However, any long-term growth of the AI token sector would need to be pushed by greater forces than internet virality and Twitter hashtags.
The global crypto exchange, Gate.io, expressed that “hype alone may not be the only driving force of AI tokens. Investors are now recognizing significant innovations are coming out of the crossover between AI and Web3. However, there remain challenges in scaling such technologies and applying them in the real world business.”
Many decentralized AI projects are looking to compete with products offered by well-established centralized companies. But, it has yet to be seen if these platforms can provide decentralized and tokenized AI services that succeed on a large scale. In addition, crypto investors may not fully grasp all the nuanced technical aspects of AI and how it interacts with the crypto market.
Lastly, as the blockchain-AI landscape diversifies and leading protocols grow in usage, we may soon see AI tokens come to contest other, more traditional blockchain protocols higher up in the top 100 rankings. But this would be more apparent further down the road when the speculation is replaced by interest driven by more real-world use of these protocols.
