In the past year, AI and cryptocurrency have become the two most controversial and imaginative narratives in the global technology investment field. As breakthroughs in generative AI from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and others continuously spark capital frenzy, on the other side, the blockchain industry, after experiencing the FTX collapse, regulatory crackdowns, and market reshuffling, urgently needs new growth engines and hot topics. When AI meets crypto, new narratives and applications begin to sprout rapidly.
Starting in 2024, "AI + Crypto" has become a traffic password for many crypto projects to save themselves or attract new funding. As long as AI is mentioned in the white paper, it seems to garner extra attention in a bear market. However, unlike the NFT hype a few years ago, this time, "AI + Crypto" is not just a marketing term written on a PPT; it has a real technical intersection.
In the past few months, one of the most discussed examples is the "AI Alliance" formed by Fetch.ai, Ocean Protocol, and SingularityNET. These three established "AI chain" projects announced a joint effort to create decentralized AI infrastructure, intending to challenge centralized model giants like OpenAI and Microsoft. They claim to transparently run AI's computing power, data, and model training processes on the blockchain and incentivize global contributors of computing power and data through tokens.
Additionally, distributed computing networks like Render Network have also seen a new wave of interest following the explosion of generative AI, as AI model training essentially requires massive GPU resources, and decentralized GPU networks provide new scenarios for idle computing power.
The intersection of AI and cryptocurrency has also brought new regulatory challenges.
In the United States, the recently highly discussed "FIT21" (the "Big and Beautiful Act") is seen as a significant turning point in the crypto compliance process. Although the bill focuses more on stablecoins, exchange registration, and the definition of securities, regulators have yet to form a clear framework for AI-driven DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks), automated DAOs, and AI-generated on-chain content. Especially when data, content, and even trading strategies generated by large models are automatically executed on-chain, how to hold accountable and audit becomes a tricky new issue.
In contrast, Europe is beginning to explore separate legislation for AI risk management outside the MiCA framework. For projects attempting to outsource AI computing power and data labeling to on-chain communities, cross-border compliance may become the biggest challenge ahead.
In the short term, "AI + Crypto" could indeed trigger another influx of speculative funds, especially for small coins that urgently need new narratives in a bear market. However, in the medium to long term, the real variable lies in whether the combination of the two can address some of the core pain points faced by blockchain itself.
For instance, can AI be used to automate smart contract audits and reduce vulnerabilities in DeFi contracts? Can it enhance the interpretability of on-chain data, allowing ordinary users to understand complex DeFi arbitrage and cross-chain operations? A bolder idea is to let AI become the automated "steward" of DAOs, achieving more efficient decentralized governance.
It is worth noting that Sam Altman, former chairman of OpenAI, has also founded Worldcoin, which is closely related to crypto, attempting to exchange iris scans for crypto wallets and digital identities, aiming to establish the "uniqueness of human identity" in the AI era. Although Worldcoin is highly controversial, it also suggests that on-chain mechanisms may indeed have a role in areas such as identity verification, content traceability, and AI copyright.
Of course, the industry is not without bubbles and risks: many so-called "AI chain" projects have not genuinely implemented AI models but merely use the name to raise funds; some on-chain AI applications may also be misused for deep forgery, fraud, and money laundering, adding greater compliance pressure to an already sensitive crypto industry.
For investors, this wave of "AI + Crypto" investment opportunities feels more like a bet on narratives. Long-term value still depends on whether technology can be implemented and whether user scale can genuinely materialize, rather than just swapping buzzwords to tell old stories.
From OpenAI's Sora video generation to Coinbase and Binance integrating AI customer service within their exchanges, to countless entrepreneurs exploring on-chain AI agents and distributed GPU networks, the fusion of AI and crypto is transitioning from slogans to concrete technologies and business experiments.
Whether this intersecting narrative can become the true mainline of the next bull market still requires time and reality to test.
Between bubbles and potential, the combination of AI and blockchain may be nurturing a new paradigm: how data is created, rights are assigned, circulated, and rewarded will no longer be the exclusive domain of centralized giants but a global network where every user and node can participate in profit sharing.
Related: Arbitrum surges 17% due to rumors of collaboration with Robinhood
Original article: “AI and Crypto: From Hype to the Next Industry Paradigm Shift?”
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
