AI Tokens Jump on Irrational Euphoria as Musk’s X Corp Reveals xAI Shareholding

Developments in key artificial intelligence (AI) companies sometimes drive gains in AI-focused tokens as traders bet on the long-term growth of such tokens.

AccessTimeIconNov 20, 2023 at 7:13 a.m. UTC
Updated Mar 8, 2024 at 5:19 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

Artificial intelligence (AI)-focused tokens rose over the weekend as developments in key AI companies sparked euphoria around the long-term growth of the emerging technology sector.

On Sunday, technology entrepreneur Elon Musk said shareholders of X Corp, which holds a basket of companies, would have a 25% stake in the new AI venture xAI. xAI recently started to test its Grok chatbot, which has already spurred hundreds of replica tokens.

Elsewhere, reports of Sam Altman, the founder of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, possibly returning to the board after a surprise ousting last week bolstered bullish sentiment for the AI token sector. Despite the corporate drama, it's unclear if Altman will return as Bloomberg reports that former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear has been named to the company's top job.

Bittensor's TAO rose 4.2%, adding to a 77% rally over the past week. Ocean Protocol's OCEAN, Fetch AI's FET and SingularityNet's AGIX zoomed as much as 16% in the past 24 hours, outperforming bitcoin and other majors. The sector jumped nearly 8%, driving the biggest gains for crypto traders.

AI tokens surged as much as 41%, with large-caps zooming 16% in the past 24 hours. (CoinGecko)
AI tokens surged as much as 41%, with large-caps zooming 16% in the past 24 hours. (CoinGecko)

Among small-caps, image generation platform ImgnAI’s IMGNAI jumped 40%.

AI tokens started to gain traction among crypto market observers in late 2022 after the public launch of chatbot ChatGPT and image generation software Dall-E. Both are traditional software that does not use cryptocurrencies or blockchain and was launched by OpenAI.

However, traders widely consider this sector to be a large narrative of a possible bull run in the coming years, similar to how gaming applications and decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens drove the majority of returns in the 2020-2022 bull market cycle.

While reports suggest that Altman, the face of the AI boom, will not return to the company, they failed to douse the momentum of AI tokens.

Edited by Sam Reynolds.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.



Read more about