What other unissued projects are worth paying attention to in the AI+Crypto track?

AI has become the main line of today’s technology circle, and the integration of AI and cryptocurrency has become the focus of capital pursuit. Autonolas (token Olas), an AI-based oracle, has risen by 559.3% over the past month, and Tau (token AGRS), a public chain focused on AI with its own logical programming language, has risen by a staggering 2560.0% over the past month.

These numbers not only represent a boom in the market, but also reflect the potential opportunities at the intersection of AI and cryptocurrency, which could become a new gold rush for investors.

In this article, we will focus on projects in the space that have not yet been minted, in order to find early alpha.

1.io.net: Solana-based decentralized GPU computing power

io.net is a decentralized computing network that enables the development, execution, and scaling of ML (machine learning) applications on the Solana blockchain, leveraging the world’s largest GPU cluster to allow machine learning engineers to access distributed cloud service computing power at a fraction of the cost of centralized services.

The existing centralized cloud computing service has the following problems for engineers:

• Limited availability and popular GPU models are often unavailable.
• Too few choices in GPU hardware, location, security level, latency, etc
• Good GPUs are very expensive, and projects can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per month on training and inference.

io.net solves this problem by aggregating GPUs from underutilized resources such as independent data centers, crypto miners, and crypto projects such as FIL and Render, which are combined in a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that allows engineers to access more GPU computing power and pay less.

io.net Engage users and computing power providers in this process through three products to improve the user’s product experience:

IO Cloud

is a page for deploying and managing decentralized GPU clusters, where users can access a central hub for various functions, such as deploying clusters, browsing the GPU Marketplace, quickly monitoring operations, and getting started.

IO Cloud is also where users run AI/ML applications. It integrates seamlessly with the IO-SDK to provide a comprehensive solution for scaling AI and Python applications.

IO Worker

Provide users with real-time insights into their calculations, providing an operational and bird’s-eye view of the devices connected to the network, enabling them to monitor those devices and perform quick actions such as deleting and renaming devices. In addition to this, IO Worker monitors computing activity, real-time data display, temperature and power tracking, installation assistance, wallet management, security measures, and monetization calculation-related functions.

IO Explorer

Provides a window into the inner workings of the network, providing users with comprehensive statistics and a bird’s-eye view of all aspects of the GPU cloud, such as complete visibility into network activity, vital statistics, data points, and reward transactions.

Token Economy

IO is the native token and protocol token of the io.net network. The main utility of the token is in two ways:

• IO will be used as the main payment method in the io.net ecosystem, such as paying for the deployment of GPUs. and every model deployed on the io.net must make a tiny IO transaction for inference.
• IO tokens are used to reward GPU contributors.

The network aims to allocate 500, 000 per month at launch, with a two-year halving plan with a maximum supply of 22, 300, 000 IOs.

The IO token is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2024.

2.BP-FLAC: A public chain for AI

BP-FLAC is the abbreviation of “Blockchain-Driven Federated Learning Artificial Intelligence”, a public chain of generative AI infrastructure. The project aims to aggregate and distribute GPU node computing power for AI training through blockchain technology.

In order to protect data from different hashrate contributors (miners), BP-FLAC leverages the zk-SNARK algorithm to solve data privacy issues in AI training and provide token rewards to users who provide hashrate support.

The BP-FLAC network consists of a hybrid blockchain model that includes both public and private chains.

Among them, the public chain adopts the PoC consensus mechanism, and miners contribute computing power (GPU resources) to help train AI models and obtain corresponding rewards.

The private chain adopts the PoS consensus mechanism, where staking nodes verify transactions and participate in securing the network to obtain staking rewards, and the more tokens you stake, the more rewards you get.

PoC (Proof of Certificate) stands for Proof of Certificate, where miners will receive certificates as proof of their contribution after providing GPU resources, and these certificates form the basis for the distribution of token rewards on BP-FLAC. The more computing power they contribute, the more rewards they receive.

Token Economy

WOD Coin is the native token of BP-FLAC and is used to reward miners and nodes to facilitate transactions and secure the network through staking. The total supply is capped at 500 million, distributed as follows:

• 75% (375 million coins) will be distributed over 80 years as rewards for mining (PoC) and staking (PoS).
• Team members receive 5% (25 million coins), locked for two years, and released linearly over 48 months after two years (10 million for technology, 15 million for founding team).
• 4% (20 million coins) for private rounds.
• 6% (30 million USD) for marketing operations, locked for 6 months.
• 10% (50 million coins) will be used for ecological construction, locked for 6 months.

The official plan is to implement testnet-to-mainnet incentive mapping in mid-2024, with early contributors rewarded at mainnet launch.

In terms of financing, on November 21, 2023, BP-FLAC closed a $10 million funding round with Eureka Partners, Westlabs, Mybitdata Ltd. , DecentraLabs, tech giants Amazon and NVIDIA, and Middle Eastern family office Alkhabeer Fund participated.

3.Gensyn: A distributed computing network for AI model training

Gensyn is a distributed computing network for training AI models.

The computational complexity required for large-scale AI is complex, and as AI continues to advance (GPT 3 to GPT 4), more and more computing power is required. In the real world, due to various factors such as geopolitics, it is difficult to use enough computing power in the world, and the cost has risen sharply, and some developers have difficulty even getting a single GPU, and they have to pay high service fees to cloud server oligarchs.

In this context, Gensyn was born.

Gensyn’s philosophy is to dramatically increase the available computing power for machine learning by connecting the computing power of idle machine learning-capable computing devices around the world, such as consumer GPUs, custom ASICs, and SoCs capable of training neural networks, through a global supercluster.

This is also a boon for miners who used to use ETH mining. With the shift from ETH to PoS, many miners with powerful GPUs have seen their earnings plummet, and the emergence of the Gensyn protocol promises to bring miners’ computing power to AI.

Gensyn’s machine learning training job costs about $0.4 per hour, which is much lower than the costs of things like AWS ($2) and GCP ($2.5).

The Gensyn system consists of four main actors:

• Committer: The end user of the system who provides the tasks that will be computed and pays for the completed unit of work.
• Solvers: The main working part of the system, performing model training and generating proofs for verifiers to check.
• Verifier: Link the non-deterministic training process to a deterministic linear calculation, copy a portion of the solver proof, and compare the distance to the expected threshold.
• Whistleblower: The last line of defense for the output of the results, checking the work of the validator and challenging in the hope of earning the jackpot.

The four parties worked together to build Gensyn’s verification system.

On June 11, 2023, Gensyn closed a $43 million Series A funding round led by a16z with participation from CoinFund, Canonical Crypto, Protocol Labs, Jsquare, Eden Block, and other angel investors.

4.MyShell: Authoring AI bots with ease

MyShell is a platform for creating Web3 and AI-based voice chatbots. Users can choose their favorite characters at any time to start voice chatting immediately and quickly improve their language skills by discussing topics of interest.

No-code creation is at the heart of MyShell. Through them, MyShell hopes to make it easy for users to create their favorite AI bots, even if they are college students who have never studied programming.

How?

MyShell integrates two major model suites: LLM and voice cloning/TTS.

LLMs, or large language models, are made up of artificial neural networks with many parameters that are trained on large amounts of text using self-supervised or semi-supervised learning, so that they can play any role, such as ChatGPT. MyShell leverages LLMs to humanize user-created AI characters.

TTS (text-to-speech) and speech cloning technologies are an integral part of communicating with AI bots. Text-to-speech converts written text into spoken words, enabling users to access information vocally, while voice cloning replicates a person’s unique vocal signatures, creating a personalized and authentic audio experience.

These two kits enable MyShell to create a variety of user-friendly AI assistants. In May of this year, its total number of users exceeded 100,000.

There are four main ways to generate revenue in MyShell:

1. The user pays a monthly subscription fee in fiat or cryptocurrency;

2. Creators pay to promote their AI-native apps to get more exposure;

3. Royalties from AI content/assets traded between users;

4. AI developers purchase user-licensed data for model training and fine-tuning.

Token Economy

$SHELL is the native token of the item, which can be used to pay for the subscription fee of the Shell NFT for the opportunity to obtain dialogue credits and earn, as well as for community governance. The total supply is 1, 000, 000, 000. 40% of them go to community incentives, 20% to the ecosystem/treasury, 15% to private sale, and the team gets 17%.

Note: MyShell is currently in beta and the utility/distribution of tokens is subject to change in the future.

On October 16, 2023, MyShell closed a $5.6 million seed round at a valuation of $57 million, led by INCE Capital, with participation from Hashkey Capital, Folius Ventures, SevenX Ventures, OP Crypto, and others.

5.Kaito AI: AI-powered encrypted information aggregation platform

Kaito is an AI-powered Web3 search engine that wants to revolutionize cryptocurrency research and investing through AI.

For retail investors, the methods of obtaining information are extremely fragmented and unorganized, and Web3’s information index does not have a natively supported search engine, which is easily limited by traditional search represented by Google. To solve this pain point, Kaito came along.

Kaito’s search engine uses the Auto GPT framework and multiple ChatGPT backends to build a network of agents that can handle a variety of tasks, including search, information processing, data cleansing, and annotation, with the aim of providing higher-quality Web3 information services. In addition to this, Kaito leverages AI to optimize its search engines through rankings, topic mining, personalization, recommendations, speech-to-text transcription, and AI-generated content.

MetaSearch is Kaito’s main product. With MetaSearch, users are able to search all platforms in the crypto space with one click, including: Twitter, Discord, Governance Forum, Mirror, Medium, and more.

• With MetaSearch, users can get the following benefits:
• Search for any cryptocurrency, topic, or trend in seconds to get instant insights;
• Reduce wasted time on manual research with curated Twitter searches tailored specifically for Web3;
• Early discovery of narratives through social signals;
• With AI, any of the user’s technical documents and papers can be answered instantly.

Currently, the basic version is priced at $129 and costs $99 per month on an annual basis.

On June 22, 2023, Kaito closed a $5.5 million Series A funding round valued at $87.5 million, led by Superscrypt and Spartan.

Token Economy

At present, there is no specific token information for the project. You can keep an eye on its official website for the latest developments

6.Aethir: A cloud gaming platform that solves lag and piracy

Aethir is a real-time rendering network built for gaming and artificial intelligence, ensuring gamers can have an ultra-low latency experience anywhere, on any device, through its cloud services and rendering technologies.

The Aethir cloud gaming platform is its primary location for the service. Behind the Aethir cloud gaming platform is a large and stable network of distributed computing nodes, allowing games to run directly in the cloud. As a result, players can enjoy a high-quality, seamless gaming experience on any device without downloading.

For game developers, Aethir can be used to quickly deploy and launch their games online without having to go through a complex development and adaptation process.

Within the Aethir platform, a “game” is considered a collection. In this collection, multiple “Game Versions” can be created. For each version within the Game Collection, the User may submit, modify, or delete the Game Adaptation Service. As a result, Aethir’s cloud platform not only allows developers to seamlessly implement updates, but also guarantees synchronization of game versions for all users.

Aethir’s cloud platform also solves the problem of piracy in gaming.

In traditional gaming, pirated games have always been a thorn in the side of the gaming industry, but with Aethir, this problem is solved. This is because the game is executed on a cloud server and not on the user’s device, and the user does not have access to any game files, so it eliminates almost all forms of traditional game piracy.

As Arthur Hayes explains, Aethir is meaningfully expanding the addressable market for gaming and other streaming content in the world’s fastest-growing (but hardware-constrained) market. As Aethir expands, everyone benefits – gamers, publishers, and globally distributed render node operators, among others.

Aethir’s audience isn’t just for players in Web3, it’s for all players from all walks of life around the world.

On July 27, 2023, Aethir closed a $9 million Pre-A round at a valuation of $150 million, led by investors including Sanctor Capital, Hashkey, Merit Circle, and CitizenX.

Token Economy

At present, there is no specific token information for the project. You can keep an eye on its official website for the latest developments

7.Ritual: An execution layer that integrates AI into smart contracts

Ritual is an AI-based sovereign execution layer. Their vision is to enable developers to build fully transparent DeFi, self-improving blockchains, autonomous agents, generated content, and more through Ritual.

Infernet is the core suite of Rituals, which is essentially a lightweight library that brings computation on-chain. Its primary application is to serve ML inference workloads. Users can build and host ML models, deploy them to Infernet nodes, and create subscriptions to use the inference output of on-chain smart contracts and optionally concise proofs of execution.

The Infernet SDK can be used for integration between Web3 and AI features such as: data preprocessing and training, model support (scikit-learn, HuggingFace), validation (zero-knowledge proofs, optimistic fraud) proofs, various open-source zk libraries), data hosting and provenance, and more.

By flexibly applying the Infernet SDK, developers can integrate AI models into users’ own protocols, applications, or smart contracts. Enables developers to fine-tune, monetize, reason, and more models using cryptographic schemes.

Token Economy

At present, there is no specific token information for the project. You can keep an eye on its official website for the latest developments

On November 8, 2023, Ritual closed a $25 million Series A funding round led by Archetype.