AI tokens surge amid Grayscale’s fund announcement

Crypto projects focused on artificial intelligence (AI) saw a general surge in their native tokens after Grayscale announced the launch of a new fund focused on decentralized AI. The investment firm disclosed this in a June 17 press release, stating that the Fund will give investors exposure to the emerging AI sector within the crypto ecosystem.

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According to CoinMarketCap, AI and Big Data tokens saw an average 3% increase in their price over the past 24 hours. However, the performances were mixed, with AVTM rising by 71% while AXIS fell by 61%.

Grayscale Investments pick Filecoin, Render, and three others

At the time of its launch, the Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund will consist of five blockchain-based AI projects: the decentralized machine learning network Bittensor (TAO), the decentralized storage protocol Filecoin (FIL), the layer one blockchain NEAR protocol (NEAR), the decentralized GPU protocol Render Network (RNDR), and the decentralized video streaming network Livepeer (LPT).

NEAR had the highest portfolio weighting, 32.99%. FIL has 30.59%, RNDR 24.86%, LPT 8.64% and TAO 2.92%. However, the Fund will rebalance quarterly, and more AI tokens will likely be added to the basket over time.

Grayscale said the projects were carefully selected by focusing on protocols that are building decentralized AI services, solutions to centralized AI problems, and infrastructure needed for AI development.

“The blockchain-based AI protocols embody the principles of decentralization, accessibility, and transparency, and the Grayscale team feels strongly that these protocols can help mitigate the fundamental risks emerging alongside the proliferation of AI technology.”

– Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale’s Head of Product & Research, Rayhaneh.

The new Fund further highlights the growth of the AI crypto sector over the past year. As Grayscale noted, the Fund, which is already accessible to eligible investors, will allow them to gain exposure to AI at the earliest stage.

AI tokens’ value rise

Meanwhile, several AI tokens have increased in value over the past 24 hours, with the announcement being one of the factors behind the rise. Gains were varied as major cap AI tokens saw only a slight rise in their value.

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LPT had the biggest gains among the tokens selected, rising almost 10% after the news to reach $17.27 on CoinMarketCap. The price has now slightly dropped to $16.34. TAO rose more than 5%, while RNDR and FIL saw around 2%. However, NEAR, which initially saw slight gains after the news, has declined by 2%.

The broader market had bigger price fluctuations as a relatively unknown Aventis Metaverse AVTM rose 71% today. Other top gainers include HashAI with 54%, EnqAI with 47%, and Mozaic MOZ with 32%. Fetch.ai FET and Injective INJ also recorded 2.1% and 7.4% gains respectively.