While the total crypto market lost $20 billion, and most AI tokens saw declines, AI meme coins defied the trend with massive gains.
TL;DR…
- Crypto market drops: The total crypto market cap shed $20 billion this week, down from $2.31 trillion to $2.29 trillion. Bitcoin saw a 1.3% decline, settling in the low $60K range.
- AI token performance: Most top AI tokens are down. Bittensor (TAO) led the decline, dropping 12.1%. However, smaller tokens like Virtuals Protocol (+107.1%) and Botto (+102.5%) made significant gains.
- Meme coins surge: AI meme coins defied the trend, with Goatseus Maximus up 412% and Fartcoin skyrocketing by an astonishing 70,800%, spurred on by a meta forming around the Truth Terminal bot.
- VC investment boost: Crypto venture capitalists poured $213M into AI projects in Q3, marking a 340% year-over-year increase, with big names like OpenGradient and Kiva AI among recent recipients.
The past week has been eventful, with bearish market activity and mixed performance across sectors.
Despite this, there’s an interesting (albeit comical) meta brewing in the AI meme coin sector.
Let’s dive in and see what’s hot and what’s not in the AI market this week.
Did you miss last week’s update? Check it out here.
Market Recap
The past week has seen a slightly bearish skew enter the market, with the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies shedding $20 billion—falling from $2.31 to $2.29 trillion.
Despite being down for the week, Bitcoin is still trading in the green for October. So far, the OG cryptocurrency is up 4.6% for the month—still a ways off the historical average of 21.4% seen in October.
Zooming in on the AI sector, we find that the last week has been tough for AI token holders. Nine of the top 10 largest AI tokens by market cap are in the red over this period.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for AI tokens; some smaller players have completely ignored the bearish sentiment and pulled off impressive returns.
Some of the best performers currently include:
- Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL): gained 107.1%
- Botto (BOTTO): gained 102.5%
- Humans.ai (HEART): gained 58.5%
- Aleph.im (ALEPH): gained 46.5%
Keep an eye on your favorite big data & AI tokens here.
Weekly News Roundup
The AI space has seen an avalanche of positive and negative developments over the last week.
We’ve collected an assortment of the most important news to bring you up to speed:
A semi-autonomous AI bot named Truth Terminal has become a millionaire by leveraging meme coin investments. Its portfolio is now valued at nearly $3 million with significant holdings of Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) tokens—more on these later.
The AI-powered network Masa confirmed two recent exploits affecting the MASA token on the Base blockchain. The first incident occurred on Sept. 20, followed by another on Oct. 17. Masa is addressing the issue and has cautioned users against trading or transferring the token.
Anthropic, a company that builds AI systems, has just announced updates to its Claude 3.5 Sonnet model and a new high-speed model known as Claude 3.5 Haiku. The new Sonnet model features enhanced coding capabilities, and developers can access a first-of-its-kind computer use feature.
Prove AI, an open-source AI platform focused on responsible, transparent AI governance has integrated with Hedera’s public ledger to ensure data integrity. Prove AI will launch on the Hedera network, confirming previous rumors that it had abandoned plans to launch on Casper.
According to Messari’s quarterly funding review, Crypto VCs allocated a total of $213 million to AI projects in Q3, representing a 340% YoY increase as investors aim to gain exposure to the next generation of AI unicorns. Some of the most recently funded crypto AI projects include Canyon Network, OpenGradient, Kiva Ai and PIN AI.
The AI Degen Sphere
Though the broader AI sector is currently struggling, the AI meme subsector is thriving.
AI meme coins have been putting on an impressive show recently, with several new tokens leading the market in terms of returns.
Meanwhile, the so-called “female Truth Terminal,” known as Aiwithdaddyissues (SHEGEN), has gained an even more bonkers 1,710% in the last week, as the AI agent memecoin meta has gathered momentum.
This growth has also spilled over to related assets like Fartcoin, which tapped a $50 million market cap after gaining…wait for it…70,800% in a week 😂
If anything, this industry is certainly not boring.
Want to catch up on the latest meme coin news? Check out our most recent meme coin update.