By James Davis
Despite the growing hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI), the crypto assets pegged to this nascent technology have continued to record poor performance. A report from crypto research company Kaiko shows that interest in AI tokens has declined in recent months despite investors pouring billions of dollars into AI-focused startups.
Dessislava Laneva, an analyst at Kaiko, says investors have seemingly lost interest in the top four AI tokens, which include OCEAN, RNDR, ROSE, and GRT. According to data from coinGeicko, GRT is down 18% over the past 30 days, while OCEAN, RNDR, and ROSE have recorded losses of 6.7%, 11.7%, and 13.6%, respectively, during the same period.
Lavena reveals that the combined market cap of the four crypto assets declined to $60.5 million in August from $170.2 million at the start of the year.
Kaiko’s report indicates that the launch of the most-anticipated crypto project, Worldcoin, did not attract investors to AI. The interest in the project’s native WLD is also fading away, possibly due to the controversy around Worldcoin’s iris scanning exercise happening across the globe. Several regulators have announced their plans to investigate the project.
Kaiko says WLD has recorded the biggest price drop among Bitcoin and other top cryptocurrencies since its launch. The token is down 36% over the previous 30 days.
Possible Factors Fueling AI Tokens’ Poor Performance
On her X account, Laneva wrote that the shift in risk appetite contributes to the current price drops among AI-based tokens. Since rumors began spreading that China was experiencing an economic slowdown, the risk sentiment changed against cryptocurrencies.
The Kaiko analyst also said the failure of AI tokens to rally when NVIDIA announced it had posted a record-setting revenue suggests a lack of interest in such tokens at the moment.
Laneva noted that Fetch.ai (FET) stood out in August. While the rest of the AI-related tokens posted losses, FET increased by 19%. The crypto analyst added that investors view Fetch.ai as the most innovative AI-based project.
Meanwhile, Lavena believes the broader crypto market will rally in October, claiming that the month has always been good for the digital asset industry over the years.