Crypto AI Tokens in Focus as DOGE, SHIB Rally Starts to Ease

• Prices of AI-linked tokens such as FET and AGIX are surging on speculation a crypto product will feature at an Nvidia conference later this month even though AI can't run on the blockchain.
• Inflows into such projects is coupled with a sell-off in meme coins, which have led crypto gains in the past week.

Expectations that a crypto project will be mentioned in an Nvidia (NVDA) conference later this month are driving traders to bid on artificial intelligence (AI)-linked tokens, propelling CoinGecko 's category for the coins up 25% in 24 hours.

Tokens of Fetch.AI (FET), Render Network (RNDR), AI$0.03700 and AGIX$0.08932 climbed as much as 40%. These projects claim to utilize AI in various ways, such as providing a virtual companion and being a marketplace for graphic processing cards.

Behind the surge are reports that crypto AI project developers are attending the chipmaker's conference or taking part in panels, according to Lookonchain. The event will be held from March 17-21. The advance compares with bitcoin’s 0.3% increase and a 0.4% gain in the CoinDesk 20, a broad-based liquid index of major tokens.

AI tokens remain a hot narrative for crypto traders because the technology is expected to drive key innovations in the global economy in the coming years. However, the relationship between AI and crypto is unclear: Artifical intelligence cannot run on a blockchain. Even so, developments in traditional AI companies, such as OpenAI, drive gains in AI tokens as traders utilize them as a proxy bet on the industry.

The tokens also rallied last month after Nvidia beat fourth-quarter earnings and first-quarter guidance expectations.

Meanwhile, the inflows into AI tokens seem to have put the brakes on a multiweek rally for meme coins, data shows.

Tokens such as DOGE$0.1312, pepecoin (PEPE) and dogwifhat (WIF) have more than doubled over the past few weeks as bitcoin briefly broke its all-time highs. Some observers attributed the surge to meme coins being more friendly to retail traders, who are typically driven to crypto markets during bitcoin rallies.

The rally seems to be done for now. DOGE, SHIB and PEPE lost over 15% in the past 24 hours, data shows. And in another sign of money leaving the market, open interest on DOGE-tracked futures has dropped $400 million from record highs since Tuesday.