Bittensor

TL;DR…<ul><li>The AI sector boomed as macroeconomic sentiment improved</li><li>Bittensor (TAO) reclaimed the No. 1 spot while AI Agent tokens soared</li><li>Solana-based AI startup Nous raised $50 million at a $1 billion valuation</li></ul>As the <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/fear-and-greed-index/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CMC Crypto Fear and Greed Index</a> improved to neutral, the AI sector returned with a bang this week.The sector added more than $3 billion to its market capitalization (mcap) thanks to the exceptional performance of <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bittensor/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bittensor (TAO)</a> and the <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/artificial-superintelligence-alliance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET)</a>.Improving macroeconomic and sector-specific conditions paint a positive picture for the future.<h2 id="header-0">Market Overview</h2><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcFPFoYOSl_YyyFotT1jH71YkUBvZPhxItfIw6sEQXcvHOOAPjFKwZQ7Yl2UqYYe3032-2SRdRW9NyL7uv5SjHdakAMkLxn_Jbixt3n6bDjbB-SKmCi0edVNtj8nBOiw2oExOeFiw?key=yhknUANd-BE8VYtmHedR9ljn">Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC Coin Page</a>Bitcoin temporarily reclaimed the $95,000 price point following massive ETF inflows, a huge buy from Saylor's Strategy (formerly Microstrategy), and the Federal Reserve adopting a permissive stance on banks and their crypto activities.<h2 id="header-1">AI Sector Recap</h2>The AI sector hit a $31.9 billion mcap this week, returning to levels seen in early March 2025.Roughly 60% of AI tokens are in the green over the last week. The best performers among the top 100 include:<ul><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/virtual-protocol/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL)</a>: gained 71.1%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tars-protocol/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TARS AI (TAI)</a>: gained 67.7%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bubblemaps/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bubblemaps (BMT)</a>: gained 66.7%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/spectral/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spectral (SPEC)</a>: gained 55.9%</li></ul>Meanwhile, several <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/ai-agents/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI agent tokens</a> in the Coin Terminal and Virtuals ecosystems tacked on over 100% this week, including:<ul><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ai-agent-layer/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI Agent Layer (AIFUN)</a>: gained 140.1%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/casper-ai/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Casper AI (AIAGENT)</a>: gained 126.7%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/game-by-virtuals/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">GAME by Virtuals (GAME)</a>: gained 111.9%</li></ul><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcyr4ZjKXCmfgsc3Pm6SJgR7aDhfzAsHaeAEdFch-1Jg8b_qroTwalOB7tmpQCCDeS54xbc0ftC973B-W_X_hMTuiKH3zPmwouXYDoFgtMarUzRt2wRiLXJDBe10gAFPbmE2qFL?key=yhknUANd-BE8VYtmHedR9ljn">Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/view/ai-big-data/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Top AI Tokens Page</a>Bittensor (TAO) topped the AI token rankings while <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/fartcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Fartcoin (FARTCOIN)</a> put the brakes on the gas and stayed flat this week.But not all AI tokens fared quite so well.<ul><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/zerebro/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Zerebro (ZEREBRO)</a>: lost 39%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ai-companions/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI Companions (AIC)</a>: lost 31.3%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tokenbot-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">tokenbot (CLANKER)</a>: lost 25.9%</li><li><a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/act-i-the-ai-prophecy/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Act I: The AI Prophecy (ACT)</a>: lost 23.3%</li></ul><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcTkkhS54AMOLTdQyfGOI76FU3hjJS-93GAG9scOA5ScgZfJlIVjJTjaWfL9fC2fuTobJACgCZ-bZWCMN9Q4XAcp9LnZRQxWnvCsFO2UZgigD70o6BMcyR0NoVLXeN-rYxKdkXf?key=yhknUANd-BE8VYtmHedR9ljn">Source: DefiLlamaPer DefiLlama, the AI sector is now the third-best-performing sector this week, achieving a 9.2% mcap-weighted gain.<h2 id="header-2">AI News Roundup</h2>A brief rundown of this week’s biggest stories:Paradigm Bets $50M on Solana-Powered AI Lab Nous: Crypto VC Paradigm led a $50 million Series A for Nous Research, valuing the Solana-based <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/decentralized" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">decentralized</a> AI lab at about $1 billion. Funds will scale open-source “Hermes” models and a global idle-compute training network.<a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">http://twitter.com/TheBlock__/status/1915769791576502326</a>Nvidia’s Inception Shuts Out Crypto Startups: Nvidia updated its Inception accelerator rules, explicitly barring cryptocurrency-focused startups while doubling down on AI ventures, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/signal" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">signaling</a> a strategic pivot toward higher-growth AI markets and away from the <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/glossary/blockchain" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">blockchain</a> sector. (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/nvidia-excludes-crypto-startups-accelerator-program" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">source</a>)NEAR Alliance Funds Decentralized GPU Cloud: Compute layer Exabits won a NEAR Foundation grant to merge its tokenized GPU clusters with NEAR’s AI tools, offering on-demand H100/H200 resources and privacy-preserving TEEs for user-owned AI apps.<a href="https://twitter.com/exa_bits/status/1916915818463694892" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://twitter.com/exa_bits/status/1916915818463694892</a>&gt;&gt; Check in next week for more AI news, developments, and updates!

Week in AI: Agent Tokens Lead Recovering Market

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