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Crypto VC Firm Polychain Tops Up AI Platform Ritual's $25M Funding Round With 'Multimillion Dollar' Investment

Blockchain firms are attempting to address concerns that Big Tech giants like Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet will build an artificial-intelligence oligarchy

Polychain CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
Polychain CEO Olaf Carlson-Wee (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
  • Polychain made an undisclosed investment in Ritual, referring to it as a "multimillion dollar" amount.
  • Ritual raised $25 million in November to address the centralized nature of artificial intelligence systems.
  • AI has become an area of interest in the blockchain industry following the proliferation of AI-powered tools acquiring mainstream popularity.

Blockchain-focused venture capital firm Polychain Capital topped up a $25 million funding round into artificial intelligence (AI) platform Ritual with a "multimillion dollar" investment.

Ritual raised $25 million last November to address the centralized nature of AI systems. The investment was led by Archetype and included participation from Accomplice and Robot Ventures.

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Now Polychain has put a ribbon on the funding round. In an email to CoinDesk, it declined to disclose the exact amount invested.

AI has become an area of interest in the blockchain industry following the proliferation of AI-powered tools and their increased mainstream popularity over the last year or so. Blockchain firms are attempting to address concerns that Big Tech giants like Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOG) will build an AI oligarchy by introducing decentralization into the storage of data and access to infrastructure.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes joined Ritual's board of advisers in January, referring to the need to "ensure the burgeoning AI economy has access to a more censorship-resistant, collaboration-powering technology than we currently have."

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Jamie Crawley

Jamie has been part of CoinDesk's news team since February 2021, focusing on breaking news, Bitcoin tech and protocols and crypto VC. He holds BTC, ETH and DOGE.

Jamie Crawley