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The Top Crypto AI Projects You Should Know About
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No story dominated crypto - or the world - in 2023 more than artificial intelligence. We know it can be difficult to orient yourself among all the AI projects that have popped up in Web3, so we’ve prepared a helpful guide with over 25 startups.
As ChatGPT blew up and the tech giants made their big plays in the space, the blockchain space also rode the AI wave. However, it remains an open question if AI and blockchain are really a good match technologically, or if it is simply the latest hype cycle in an excitable industry. We first posted this list in early 2023, and here comes a massive update with news about projects we covered, plus some new AI crypto projects to check out.
AI on Aptos
Things have certainly changed in the six months since we first published our roundup. Most importantly, Pontem is developing an AI chatbot specifically for crypto and Aptos users, Pontem AI. We’ll soon be ready to start community-testing it, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, here are a couple important developments, including one spearheaded by the Aptos team itself.
Aptos Assistant
This chatbot is one of the most exciting developments in crypto AI, as it brings together three true power players: Microsoft, OpenAI, and Aptos. This chatbot provides answers to all of your Aptos, blockchain, and web3 questions. It’s similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT experience, but tailored for crypto and blockchain topics. As part of the partnership, Aptos will run validator nodes on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.
SwapGPT
Pontem’s partner SwapGPT is working on an AI-powered liquidity manager and aggregator. AI will be used to find the best swapping routes; manage portfolios in an automated way; build trading strategies without coding, etc.
SwapGPT already has a swap platform and a trading interface that uses the same order book by Econia Labs as Pontem’s own Gator Trade interface. There is also a built-in chatbot where you can enter prompts like “buy 50 APT for USDC”. More AI features are coming soon.
FIND OUT
FIND OUT is a social chatbot that combines AI with user input. Users vote on the best and most thoughtful responses to improve the model. Voting occurs on-chain on Aptos, and users are rewarded for their responses. New accounts are linked to users’ Aptos wallets, facilitating easy onboarding. The bot’s answers are fun, though it often admits that it’s not able to respond.
25+ AI projects worth following
Fetch.ai was one of the big successes of 2023: $FET went up from $0.10 to almost $0.80. It is a decentralized AI blockchain platform centered on the concept of Autonomous Economic Agents (AEAs): AI algorithms that perform tasks on their own, without human inputs.AEAs can make decisions, communicate with each other, and improve at their job over time.
Fetch.ai envisions a future Internet of Things (IoT) as a multi-agent system of AI workers who do their job as instructed by their “masters”. Users can then monetize the results of their AEAs’ work.
Autonomous agents might gather and process data generated by various sensors and thus power smart energy grids and whole smart cities. FET tokens would be used to pay for their services. Other use cases include crypto market analytics and social networks.
Fetch.AI is built using Cosmos SDK and the CosmWasm programming language. It also supports Cosmos’ Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC).
The FET token “lives” both on Ethereum as an ERC-20 and on the Fetch.ai mainnet. You’ll need Fetch Wallet to use the native token, as this blockchain isn’t supported by MetaMask.
Fetch.AI and SingularityNET recently formed a partnership which focuses on eliminating hallucination in AI image generation. Hallucinations are irrelevant or inaccurate outputs that stem from a large language model reinforcing bad results.
Worldcoin is a controversial identity project headed by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The idea is that soon the internet will be so full of AI bots that we’ll need a way to prove that we are human. For this purpose, Worldcoin proposes “World ID” - a digital passport based on your iris.
To get verified and create a World ID, a user needs to have their eyeball scanned by a silver ball called an “orb”. Only verified users will be able to use WLD tokens and the corresponding payment app. World IDs will be stored on the blockchain, and the creators insist that users’ privacy will be protected.
As of January 2024, 168 days after launch, Worldcoin boasts just under 3 million users in 120 countries. The project is averaging about 20,000 sign-ups and 244,000 wallet transactions per day. 2000 Orbs are in operation across 35 countries.
As the CEO of one of the most famous AI startups in the world, Sam Altman understands the risks of AI and insists we will need a new way to distinguish humans from bots. However, Worldcoin’s practices have raised concerns: Vitalik Buterin himself writes that privacy risks are too great with biometric proof of identity (as an eyeball scan can reveal a lot about a person). Plus, he notes, it will be difficult to get orbs to everyone who wants a World ID, and some governments might even decide to ban the technology altogether. For example, in December 2023 the company paused orb verifications in India, France, and Brazilpaused orb verifications in India, France, and Brazil - reportedly for regulatory reasons.
Often derided for its name, this L1 blockchain has been around since XXX and wasn’t originally an AI project. Rather, it aims to provide Web3 with a serverless data cloud where everything - smart contracts, content, social media etc. - can live on-chain. Anyone can create a dApp on Internet Computer.
In July 2023, Dfinity Foundation (the company behind ICP), announced a $5 million grant fund for startups that build decentralized AI (deAI) apps on ICP. The idea is to put AI models on Internet Computer’s autonomous cloud instead of on centralized servers like Amazon Web Services. Existing AI apps on ICP include generative music platform Itoka and Dmail, a secure communication service.
SingularityNET envisions a future where decentralized AI performs many of our daily tasks. The project uses the term “Artificial General Intelligence” (AGI) to show that neural networks will be versatile, rather than specific to just one job. The token symbol AGIX, comes from AGI.
Their key difference from Fetch.ai (which we’ll look at next) is that instead of monetizing the services performed by AI agents, users can monetize AI models themselves. A developer can train a new machine learning algorithm, upload it to SingularityNET using a special Publisher tool, then sell it on the marketplace. Customers pay with AGIX or fiat.
The marketplace now boasts 84 AI products across a wide range of functions, including an image resolution upscaler, music and voice tools, language and image recognition, and more. In November 2023, SingularityNET announced a partnership with Internet Computer that would see Singularity’s marketplace to add support for the ICP blockchain.
Ocean isn’t an AI protocol in itself, but it deals with the thing neural networks need most: data. Ocean is building a decentralized marketplace for data where providers and customers are matched without intermediaries.
Ocean uses special ERC-20 datatokens and ERC-721 NFTs as access keys for datasets. Customers need to pay with datatokens when buying datasets. Data itself can be stored anywhere, including centralized servers, but access to it is decentralized.
Users can lock OCEAN to earn around 6.5% APY and receive special veOCEAN tokens in return. If you also allocate your veOCEAN to participate in the curation of certain data, you’ll get additional rewards.
Currently, the marketplace mostly features crypto trading data, such as ETH/USDT order books and CEX aggregators.
Bittensor is positioned as a “neural internet” and as an “intelligence network” - a blockchain that can power numerous machine learning markets (subnets). The objective is for AI models to collaborate, transforming into a single huge “mind” - a general artificial intelligence.
The protocol is supported by a network of miners - actually nodes that host machine learning models and perform computations when requested. This is called Proof of Intelligence (similar to Proof of Work), and the miner who provides the best output gets to add a block to the chain and receive a reward in TAO tokens. Meanwhile, validators check the results of miners’ work and the quality of their models and also receive TAO.
Each AI model in the network (known as an “expert”) has its own specialization. Together they can produce better responses than any individual mode. For example, one can provide images and another text captions; or one can generate code and another, explanations to that code. ,
OriginTrail is a Polkadot parachain that is building an infrastructure for AI-ready Knowledge Assets - verified information that AI models can safely use. It certifies data origin and thus aims to solve one of the biggest problems of AI - the ubiquity of misinformation, which, when used by ML models, produces even more misinformation.
The ecosystem already features over 3.3 million Knowledge Assets. Its app, OriginTrail World, is currently in beta and includes a list of ecosystem partners and an AI chatbot that uses trusted information.
Numerai is a combination of a hedge fund and a community of data scientists. It trades using crowd-sourced AI algorithms to predict crypto prices. Outside investors can put money in the hedge fund to hopefully enjoy the returns. In economics, a numeraire is a unit used to compare the prices of different assets. USD is the traditional numeraire for stocks. Combine “numeraire” and “AI”, and you get Numerai.
At the heart of Numerai is a system of tournaments in which community members compete to create the best machine learning algorithms. They stake NMR, and if one’s AI model does a good job predicting prices, the creator is rewarded with more NMR. But if the algorithm performs poorly, the user’s stake is slashed. Currently, they boast 5938 staked models and $34 million+ in rewards paid.
This motivates data scientists to submit better models, which Numerai combines into a weighted meta model. Considering that some users earn over 300% APY in NMR thanks to their algorithms (crowdsourcing the leaderboard), crowdsourcing AI is working so far .
AIOZ Network is building W3AI - a decentralized network for training AI models, storing their data, and monetizing AI dApps.
The project’s other offerings include AIOZ proper, an independent blockchain; DePin - a decentralized system for “pinning” (one-click integrations) dApps into Web3 protocols, as well as decentralized storage, and content streaming.
Paal offers personalized AI solutions for startups. You can create your own MyPall crypto chatbot, give it a personality, and deploy it on Discord or Telegram. The bot will not only answer users’ questions but also analyze community sentiment and collect project data.
There is also AutoPaal, a research tool that gathers verified information about blockchain projects, can watch market trends for you, and can even provide sources for citations (something that ChatGPT doesn’t do). Finally, the upcoming AutoPaal tool will have all the features of the former two, plus trading features, including limit orders.
Sleepless AI is a blockchain+AI gaming platform that offers AI-driven digital companions (avatars). These come in two flavors: HIM and HER. You can pick a virtual “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”, choose what their room should be like, and how they should dress. Then, by having conversations with the avatar, you will have them develop a personality, and finally turn them into a soulbound NFT that is forever linked to your wallet (and you).
The first NFT sale took place on December 21, and $AI has been listed on Binance.
0x0 is a suite of AI-powered safety tools:
- AI Auditor, for smart contract audit;
- Privacy DEX, an aggregator that allows you to trade on multiple DEXes while keeping all swaps private;
- Privacy mixer, a coin mixer that makes it impossible to trace a transaction to an address;
- Anti-Rug AI, a bot that protects users from DEX rug pulls;
- AI Developer Hub, a platform that generates and deploys smart contracts using AI.
The next product to be released is the Arcane privacy wallet. All of the project’s profits are distributed to 0x0 token holders.
NFPrompt allows you to turn text prompts into images using AI (Midjourney-style), videos, and music, and mint them as NFTs. These AI-generated NFTs can be listed sold, like any NFT. The platform already counts almost 1.7 million minted NFTs and has hosted themed campaigns like SpiderVerse and Pokemon.
To create art and mint NFTs, you need special cNFT tokens. You can earn them by logging in to the site daily and participating in raffles; you’ll get extra cNFT for minting NFTs.
Forta uses AI to generate intelligence about potential scams and vulnerabilities. Wallets can use its Scam Detector that redflags potential malicious transactions, while DeFi protocols and investors will benefit from Attack Detector, which can identify an exploit before hackers drain the funds.
For example, Forta predicted the attack on Euler Finance, which resulted in a loss of $197 million in 2023, and a $33 million exploit of Sushi. The platform also offers an SDK for building threat detection bots.
The project aims to collect many AI crypto tools under the same roof. It already features a chatbot that tracks 5,000 tokens and can help you interact with blockchain. There’s also a prompt-to-image NFT generator.
Paid features include an AI assistant for developing and auditing smart contracts, as well as a trading assistant.
Cortex is positioned as a decentralized computer for AI dApps. The challenge with running AI models on a blockchain is to achieve deterministic inference an algorithm which produces the same result based on the same input regardless of the environment. Cortex purports to be the first L1 blockchain to have the necessary characteristics for decentralized AI.
The project features an EVM-compatible virtual machine (CVM) and supports Solidity. Cortex also has its own ZK (zero-knowledge proof) rollup called zkMatrix. It should help scale the network and reduce fees by processing many transactions on a sidechain.
Cortex introduced a system of rewards for independent AI developers who add their algorithms to the ecosystem. dApp developers will be able to select those that better match their use case. There are already a couple of AI dApps for you to try: CyFi, an AI-driven DeFi app (which wasn’t working at the time of writing) and DigitalClash, a game where users compete to draw pixels on a board.
Phoenix is a new blockchain optimized for Web3 AI dApps and IoT. It includes an EVM-compatible Layer 1 (mainnet is live with around 1,000 transactions per day) and a Layer 2 (computation layer) that will host applications. You can stake PHB to earn between 11 and 23% APY.
The project proposes to connect on-chain applications with off-chain datasets, models, and machine learning frameworks. For that, Phoenix has a built-in oracle, though it currently only supplies simple data like crypto and stock prices, Covid-19 cases, and the temperature in Hong Kong.
SingularityDAO is an AI-powered DeFi platform built by a team of machine learning scientists, data engineers, and quant trading experts. It is built and incubated by the SingularityNet Foundation.
SingularityDAO’s key innovation are DynaSets: portfolios of tokens created and automatically rebalanced using AI. In other words, they are trading strategies controlled by an AI-powered Dynamic Asset Manager.The two DynaSets currently on offer are dynBTC (WBTC & USDC) and dynETH (WETH & USDC). Users can also test several new beta strategies in the DynaLab section.
Since July, SingularityDAO has had three major updates. The first, in July, added new vaults for Sophiaverse and new swap and liquidity options. The second in October added new farms and UI changes. The third, in November, added a bridge for SOPH tokens and closed pools for RJV due to a hardfork.
Alethea uses generative AI to create characters based on a text description. You can describe the desired appearance, personality, profession, skills, and so forth. The technology is called CharacterGPT.
Every virtual character is minted as an iNFT, which consists of three parts: soul, mind, and body. iNFTs are dynamic;users can add new data to them to change the way the virtual character behaves or looks. The characters can even blink, nod, and do other movements. They also learn, like any neural network. Very interestingly, you can turn a regular NFT (like a Bored Ape) into an iNFT.
Alethea recently upgraded to CharacterGPT V2, which “enhances its comprehension, generative capabilities, output diversity, and capacity to create higher fidelity characters.”
Another innovation of Alethea is the AI Protocol. It allows developers to integrate CharacterGPT and iNFTs into their own projects. Users need ALI tokens to create and upgrade iNFTs, or to interact with the AI Protocol. The token also powers the DAO, whose members elect the Content Moderation Council.
Vector Space AI is a subsidiary of Vector Space Biosciences, which hopes to use machine learning to send humans into space. In order to reach Mars, astronauts will need special systems to protect them from radiation and the effects of very low gravity in the spaceship.
Vector Space’s idea is to use AI to construct datasets and reveal hidden relationships between genes, molecules, etc. This should speed up breakthroughs in space bioscience. Interestingly, Vectorspace applies the same AI technology to uncover connections between the prices of cryptocurrencies, global events, and other factors to build whole portfolio strategies.
The project uses blockchain to verify the provenance of data in each dataset. Institutional customers require VXV tokens to pay for access to datasets.
In August 2023, Vector Space Biosciences, the parent company, filed to launch a satellite into space. This project will perform numerous tests to better understand the health effects of space travel, and is being conducted with NASA and numerous universities.
VAIOT creates AI-powered mobile virtual assistants. They can be used by businesses to sell products like insurance to customers, prepare personalized offers, and even draw up legal contracts.
The VAIOT assistant uses a natural language model, so communicating with it is more pleasant than with a standard support bot. Unlike bots, AI assistants can also finalize offers, concluding sales on their own. In the process, they gather valuable information that can help improve business processes.
In the latter half of 2023, VAIOT developed new AI products in collaboration with IBM, including an AI Legal Assistant that can generate contracts. VAIOT also registered its VAI token with the Maltese financial regulators, becoming the first digital asset to be approved under the Malta Virtual Financials Assets Act (VFAA).
GNY is building an AI prediction platform for crypto trading. The first product is the Range Report - an AI-generated prediction for crypto prices for the next 7 days, updated daily. The Range Report now covers 13 cryptocurrencies, with machine learning-based volatility forecasts, token correlations, and numerous charts and indices.
GNY has its own blockchain, where the GNY token is used to pay for AI products, launching new assets, voting, etc. There’s also a mainnet wallet. GNY is available on Ethereum and BNB Chain, as well.
DeepBrain Chain is an AI computing network: nodes across the globe provide their computer resources to AI developers. Training a neural network takes a lot of computing power and costs AI projects a lot of money. But with DeepBrain Chain, they can outsource this resource-intensive task to others in a decentralized way and save up to 30% (according to the website).
The platform serves as a matchmaker between AI developers and nodes running GPUs (graphic cards). These range from big GPU rigs to regular users with a single Nvidia card. GPU owners can thus consider DeepBrain Chain as an alternative to crypto mining. DeepBrain Chain supports major machine learning software frameworks such as TensorFlow, Caffe2, and PyTorch.
DeepBrain Chain is already powering AI applications in cancer detection, driverless cars, and speech and image recognition. Several cloud computing providers based in South Korea and Singapore provide GPU services to users, with over 2,400 GPUs in the network.
Since the last update, DeepBrain Chain partnered with Huawei and Polygon to create the Metaverse and Web3 Alliance. A cloud Internet cafe based on DBC and DeepLink technology launched in Seoul.
Oraichain is yet another Layer 1 blockchain built for decentralized AI, as well as Web3 in general. It uses Cosmos SDK and CosmWasm, but it also has a subnetwork for AI dApps that is EVM-compatible. There is also a special trustless oracle for AI, as well as a ZK rollup for scaling.
The native OWallet combines the features of the Kepler wallet for Cosmos and MetaMask. It supports Oraichain, Cosmos, Osmosis, and Juno, together with Ethereum, BNB Chain, and other networks. You can also add the Oraichain EVM subnetwork to MetaMask.
There are 10 dApps in Oraichain’s ecosystem, including DINO Hub, a marketplace for AI APIs and data. It supports royalties, so AI developers can earn regular, passive income. For example, you’ll find AI services for weather forecasting, detecting heart diseases, and even de-aging people in photos.
Matrix is a blockchain and an AI cloud computing platform. It uses a combined Proof of Work + Decentralized Proof of Stake consensus mechanism where nodes that aren’t directly involved in mining or validation can lease their computing power to others. This makes mining environmentally friendlier and allows the network to process up to 14,000 TPS.
Other features include:
- MANAS, a marketplace for AI services like logo recognition and plant identification;
- MANTA, an automated machine learning platform;
- MANIA, a tool for turning AI models into tradable NFTs;
- Airtist, an AI protocol that generates NFT artwork.
The name “Matrix AI” points to the team’s intention to bring the vision of the famous Matrix films to life, including intelligent avatars. Soon, the project should begin upgrading to Matrix 3.0, which would integrate neural data with AI and blockchain for the first time. Users will even be able to upload their brain wave patterns to the blockchain to power their personal avatars in the metaverse.
Raven is a decentralized computing protocol for AI, metaverse, gaming, and Web3. It aims to connect millions of devices that have spare computing power with those who need them (requesters), such as machine learning engineers and game developers.
Developers can use the Ravenverse app with its various libraries to build and train AI models and even create games. Various parts of the Ravenverse allow users to assign computation tasks to free nodes as a requester, participate in current computations as a provider, etc. All this requires RAVEN tokens.
Decentralized AI is a very interesting trend that can turn out to be more than just a short-lived narrative. We will keep reporting on this space, so don’t forget to follow Pontem on Telegram, Twitter, and Discord so that you don’t miss the next article!
About Pontem
Pontem Network is a product studio building the first-ever suite of foundational dApps for Aptos. Pontem Wallet, the first wallet for Aptos, is available for Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Android, and iOS.
The wallet is integrated with our Liquidswap DEX, the first DEX and AMM for Aptos, Topaz and Souffl3 NFT marketplaces, liquid staking platforms, lending protocols, and all other major Aptos dApps.
Our other products include Lumio L2, a new Ethereum rollup that supports Move; browser code editor Move Playground; Gator, a trading interface with limit and market orders; Move IntelliJ IDE plugin for developers; and the Solidity-to-Move code translator ByteBabel – the first ever implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine for Aptos.
