iPhones get smarter while AI tokens soar – What's next in the AI takeover?
TL;DR…
- AI tokens in beast mode: It was a big week for AI and data tokens, with 9 out of 10 top tokens seeing green, led by Fetch.ai (+15.89%) and Bittensor (+10.53%).
- Apple goes AI with iPhone 16: Apple flexes AI muscle with its new on-device AI toolkit, featuring ChatGPT integration and an upgraded Siri.
- AI projects blowing up: Over 20k AI-centric projects are now live, with hot new projects racking up sizeable investments.
- Kamala Harris & crypto crickets: Harris dropped a policy statement with zero mention of crypto or AI regulation — leaving the sector in suspense.
AI is becoming as ubiquitous as the internet, appearing in anything and everything, ranging from your smartphone to trading platforms, refrigerators, and even toilets.
From smart devices to smart economies, AI is taking over. But while AI may be getting smarter, macro conditions are still calling the shots in the crypto world.Here’s what’s going on in the world of AI.
Macro Conditions
Right now, the macroeconomic situation is сlearly directing the performance of crypto markets, with U.S. economic data in particular directly impacting Bitcoin and the broader crypto market.
In particular, interest rate, inflation data, employment data and presidential election events have had an outsized impact in recent months.
In recent macro news, Kamala Harris is now more likely to win the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. This week, the frontrunner received a clear endorsement from American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and performed well against contender Donald Trump during their Tuesday debate — boosting her odds.
Meanwhile, August's Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers came in lower than many estimates at 2.5% year-on-year (compared to estimates of 2.6%).
This can be interpreted as that the U.S. is getting inflation under control, but many analysts still expect a 25-50 bps rate cut in September. If so, this would be the first rate cut in more than 4 years.
Generally, a small rate cut is considered bullish for risk-on assets like cryptocurrencies, since a lower cost of borrowing encourages investment in higher-risk asset classes.
Weekly News Roundup
Short for time? Catch up on the latest AI news with our 2-minute news roundup:
- Apple announces AI-enabled iPhone 16 lineup: Apple’s new iPhone 16 models will benefit from ‘Apple Intelligence’, a new on-device AI toolkit that benefits from contextual understanding, image generation capabilities, ChatGPT integration and an enhanced Siri personal assistant.
- Nvidia refutes DOJ Subpoena reports: Nvidia has denied reports that it received a subpoena from the Department of Justice over antitrust concerns.
- Beta launch of new AI-enabled cryptocurrency exchange: A new crypto trading platform touting "advanced AI integration" has just announced its beta launch. VOOX aims to help traders benefit from AI analytics and automated trading solutions to make trading safer and easier.
- Kamala Harris publishes policy statement: The new statement completely neglects to mention her position on crypto or artificial intelligence, indicating no clear plans for harsher or more relaxed regulations on either sector.
- OpenAI new model coming in ~2 weeks: OpenAI's new Strawberry model is expected to launch as an option inside ChatGPT in September. Based on early reviews, Strawberry excels at math and coding accuracy but still suffers from latency and memory issues.
- Adam robot unveiled: Researchers at the PNDbotics team announced their AI-powered bipedal human-inspired robot, known as 'Adam'. The bot uses reinforcement learning to how to make decisions and carry out tasks.
Winners and Losers
The last week has been a strong period for AI and big data tokens, with 9 of the top 10 largest AI tokens in the green over the last 7 days.
Leading the pack is Artificial Super Intelligence (FET) with an impressive gain of 15.89% this week, while Bittensor (TAO) isn't far behind with a 10.53% return.
Sui (SUI) has been on a roll this week, gaining 7.8% while others like Ethereum and Solana struggle.
Notably, both Sui and Bittensor have shown particular strength since the American digital asset management company Grayscale launched a trust for each asset.
On-chain investigators noticed that prominent crypto market maker DWF Labs received a 10 million FET token (worth $13 million) from the Fetch.ai foundation wallet. It remains unclear if this was an OTC deal or a payout from their previous $40 million investment into the firm back in March.
The tier 2 investment fund has not moved the tokens since receiving them, indicating a long-term strategy for FET.
Overall, the crypto AI sector is also showing relative strength against other sectors. The average AI token is currently up 5.06% in the last 7 days compared to just 1% for the market average.
New Project Spotlight
The crypto AI industry is ballooning rapidly, with dozens of new AI-centric projects launching each month.
Per Dextools, there are now almost 20,000 matches for the "AI" search term on Ethereum and BNB Chain alone. 26 of these were launched in the last 24 hours.
It reminds me of this…
Nevertheless, several new AI projects are beginning to gather mindshare, these include:
- Pin AI: Blockchain-powered Apple Intelligence competitor Pin AI secured a $10 million investment from the likes of a16z, Hack VC and the Blockchain Builders Fund. The platform hopes to enable users to monetize their data and attention while providing an industry-leading AI assistant.
- Cube3: Revealed its proprietary AI used to automatically detect and prevent on-chain crypto fraud. The system reportedly scans data from a variety of social media and web2 sources and combines it with on-chain transaction monitoring to help organizations prevent hacks and thefts before they happen.
- Balance: Completed a $30 million funding round with participation from a16z, Animoca Brands, DWF Ventures and more. The platform provides AI and blockchain-powered tools and services to web2 and web3 developers, helping them integrate features like NFTs, token incentives and stablecoin systems into their products.
And that’s a wrap.We will see you next week for our regular AI roundup!
Stay safe out there!
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