 |
| By Jurica Dujmovic |
Last week, we explored some of the most exciting intersections of AI and blockchain technology. As my colleague Beth Canova pointed out yesterday, 2024 is the year of AI, both in TradFi and in crypto.
The projects I highlighted last week all have the potential to revolutionize industries from supply chain logistics to decentralized finance.
And I’m not done yet. This week, I want to introduce you to five more AI projects. These ones may not be dominating the sector now, but they have promise and greater growth potential.
So, let’s get started.
OriginTrail
OriginTrail (TRAC, “C+”) leverages the power of blockchain technology and AI to ensure data integrity, security and accessibility across various industries.
Its goal is to enhance transparency and trust within supply chains.
The core technology behind OriginTrail is its decentralized knowledge graph. This allows for the organization and sharing of data across different nodes — or points of connection within a data network — in a decentralized manner.
This ensures no single entity has control over the entire data set and in turn enhances security and prevents tampering or data loss. Meanwhile, AI algorithms integrated within the platform verify data accuracy and maintain its integrity.
OriginTrail's DKG technology is designed for AI integration, improving the quality of data used in AI models to reduce errors like hallucinations, which can occur due to poor data quality.
The technology underpinning OriginTrail is also being used by significant players like Walmart and the British Standards Institution, demonstrating its real-world utility and adoption.
Nosana
Originally a platform focused on decentralized continuous integration and deployment, Nosana (NOS, Not Yet Rated) has strategically pivoted to focus on providing a GPU-compute grid for AI inference.
This evolution aligns with the growing need for computational resources in AI fields, leveraging blockchain technology to democratize access to high-powered computing.
To do this, Nosana utilizes the Solana (SOL, “B”) blockchain, which is known for its high throughput and low-latency capabilities. These features are crucial for processing AI tasks efficiently.
By creating a decentralized network where individuals can contribute their GPU resources, Nosana facilitates a more scalable and accessible AI computational platform because it is cheaper and easier to expand than owning and maintaining all that computational power directly.
This allows for a broad range of AI applications — from machine learning model training to real-time inference tasks — which opens opportunities for a wide array of industries that require intensive computing tasks.
Nosana's shift to a decentralized GPU grid positions the platform at the forefront of decentralized AI services.
Its incentivization model — which rewards participants with NOS tokens for contributing GPU power — enhances user engagement and may also drive the intrinsic value of the Nosana ecosystem higher.
As the demand for AI and machine learning continues to escalate, Nosana's model of decentralized, blockchain-powered computational resources could attract significant investment, particularly from stakeholders interested in the intersection of AI, blockchain technology and decentralized finance.
Nosana's innovative approach and its alignment with current technological trends make it a noteworthy project in the blockchain and AI space, offering substantial opportunities for growth and investment.
Kizuna
Kizuna (KIZ, Not Yet Rated) is notably distinguished by being the first ERC20 token — that is, this token is compatible with the Ethereum (ETH, “A-”) network — generated by decentralized AI. It is designed to enhance digital interactions through decentralized AI, focusing on ensuring secure and private communications within its ecosystem.
The platform uses AI-powered features, such as KizunaTensor, for image and text generation. Its goal is to make digital interactions more human, accountable and transparent.
The KIZ token supports these operations by facilitating transactions and interactions within the network, promoting a decentralized and autonomous operational model.
The innovative use of decentralized AI to generate the KIZ token and manage community interactions through AI algorithms positions Kizuna to potentially disrupt traditional approaches to digital interactions and governance.
That could have lasting implications on the broad crypto community, as decentralized governance is at the core DeFi.
With AI and blockchain increasingly recognized as pivotal technologies, Kizuna’s alignment with these trends may attract interest from investors looking for exposure to innovative blockchain projects.
Cortex
Cortex (CTXC, “C+”) integrates AI models into smart contracts and decentralized applications, enabling on-chain AI inference. This capability allows AI applications to run directly on the blockchain, providing verifiable and decentralized AI outputs, which is a significant advancement in the AI and blockchain integration.
The platform uses the CTXC token to incentivize developers to upload and verify AI models, ensuring the ecosystem remains robust and trustworthy. This democratizes access to AI by allowing anyone to use and benefit from sophisticated AI models on the blockchain.
One notable use case is in the financial sector, where AI models can predict market trends and automate trading strategies based on real-time data analysis … all while ensuring transparency and security, as all operations are recorded on the blockchain.
But that’s just one example. The innovative blend of AI and blockchain technology positions Cortex as a unique investment opportunity within the crypto space.
The CTXC token, integral to the functioning of the Cortex ecosystem, could appreciate in value as the demand for on-chain AI solutions grows.
Additionally, partnerships with major academic institutions such as Tsinghua University’s Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Mathematical Science, UC Berkeley’s Blockchain Labs and Stanford University — and investment from prominent firms in the blockchain space further underline its potential for growth and innovation.
Bittensor
Bittensor (TAO, Not Yet Rated) is a pioneering decentralized network that offers a collaborative platform for sharing and enhancing AI models.
This approach aims to break down the barriers to AI innovation, traditionally confined to entities with significant computational resources.
By leveraging blockchain technology, Bittensor creates a peer-to-peer marketplace that democratizes AI development, allowing participants from all over the world to contribute to and benefit from collective intelligence.
And it’s done by using a unique technological framework known as the Decentralized Mixture of Experts (MoE). This setup allows multiple specialized AI models within the network to collaborate and address complex problems more effectively than any single model could.
The MoE approach is crucial for tasks that require multifaceted expertise, such as generating multilingual content or complex code solutions. It not only enhances prediction accuracy but also allows the system to handle larger data volumes more efficiently.
The TAO token, integral to this ecosystem, is used to reward participants who contribute valuable data and models. The platform operates on a subnet structure, where each subnet specializes in different aspects of AI tasks. These subnets compete for TAO emissions, a process that incentivizes the continuous improvement of their offerings.
This setup ensures a sustainable and evolving AI development environment, promoting a wide array of applications from natural language processing to sophisticated predictive analytics.
The investment appeal of Bittensor lies in its innovative integration of blockchain technology with AI, addressing key challenges such as the high cost of AI development and the centralization of computational resources.
The TAO token, central to the network’s operations, represents a potential growth opportunity, especially as the network expands and its technologies are adopted across various industries.
It's clear that the combination of AI and blockchain technology is paving the way for some truly groundbreaking advancements.
If you're as fascinated by the potential of AI and blockchain as I am, these projects are definitely worth keeping an eye on. They offer a glimpse into the future where technology not only solves complex problems but does so in a transparent, decentralized and incredibly efficient manner.
And if jumping into crypto AI on your own sounds a little overwhelming, don’t worry. My colleague Juan Villaverde’s Weiss Crypto Investor newsletter offers specific “buy” and “sell” recommendations — based on his proprietary Crypto Timing Model — for the cryptos dominating leading narratives, including AI.
If you want to learn more about it, as well as which two crypto AI projects he’s interested in, click here.
But whether you're an investor looking for the next big thing or just a tech enthusiast excited about the future, I think we all can agree that these AI-driven crypto projects are worth your attention.
Best,
Jurica Dujmovic
