In its latest report, “Grayscale Research Insights: Crypto Sectors in Q3 2024,” asset management giant Grayscale highlighted the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies within the crypto market.

Throughout the first half of 2024, AI has emerged as a pivotal theme, particularly in the Smart Contract Platforms and Utilities & Services crypto sectors. These sectors have demonstrated significant resilience and growth by addressing AI-related challenges and supplying essential resources for AI development.

AI and Blockchain Synergy Fuels Market Innovation

According to Grayscale, AI has consistently been a dominant theme over the past months. Following closely are exchange-traded funds (ETFs), meme coins, and blockchain-based gaming. These themes reflect the community’s interests and hint at potential market movements in the near future.

Grayscale predicts that the overlap of AI and blockchain will continue to be central as the market evolves. The synergy between AI and crypto has fueled innovation and significantly improved the market performance of AI-adjacent tokens. These tokens have surged by 80% year-to-date, starkly contrasting with the broader crypto market’s modest decline.

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Looking ahead, Grayscale has included AI-centric projects in its list of high-potential tokens across various crypto sectors for Q3 2024. The firm highlights the potential of assets like Near, Render, and Akash to capitalize on the growing AI trend.

Near’s focus on non-financial use cases and its real-world adoption, combined with its AI expertise, positions it as a frontrunner in the smart contract platform sector. Meanwhile, Render and Akash are set to benefit from the rising preference for decentralized GPU marketplaces, which is essential for AI development.

Dominic Williams, Founder and Chief Scientist at DFINITY, believes AI is a transformative technology with unpredictable yet endless applications for on-chain AI running as smart contracts. He pointed to AI smart contracts functioning within DeFi and Web3 social media as an example. Williams also suggests that Web3 social media might rely on AI for intelligent content recommendations to achieve rapid growth.

“Decentralized AI could also offer benefits like cost-effective, decentralized autonomous KYC and reduced bad actor threats. Applications like these also provide strong regulatory advantages, further supporting the growth and development of AI and Web3. Smart contracts offer some really strong advantages to building and executing AI on-chain. They are tamper-proof, ensuring security and correct operation; unstoppable, as they are resilient and always running; autonomous, requiring no trusted intermediary; and composable, making them easy to integrate with other blockchain systems and services,” he explained to BeInCrypto.

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This report bolsters Grayscale’s earlier findings on the synergy between AI and crypto, emphasizing market optimism even as many applications remain nascent.