Share this article

Tron Blockchain Commits $100M in Grants to AI-Focused Projects

The commitment comes as AI-focused tokens take over the narrative in crypto circles.

A cardboard cutout of Tron founder Justin Sun. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
A cardboard cutout of Tron founder Justin Sun. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

The Tron blockchain has committed over $100 million to teams utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) within their blockchain applications as the technology gains steam among investors.

The initiative aims to support developers researching the use of AI, which attempts to simulate human intelligence in machines, in applications built on the blockchain by utilizing tools like ChatGPT, a chatbot created by OpenAI, both in the back end and front end of development.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the The Protocol Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Read More: Here’s Why Artificial Intelligence Focused Cryptocurrencies Are Vastly Outperforming Bitcoin

These teams can apply for grants from the Tron Artificial Intelligence Development Fund.

Key areas identified by Tron are the use of AI for payments and e-commerce, currency settlement, data management, market and investment analysis and content generation.

“AI integration in smart contract development will allow for more intelligently and effectively created, deployed and executed smart contracts,” Tron founder Justin Sun tweeted earlier this week.

AI tokens are up an average of over 60% in the past week alone, CryptoSlate data shows. Among the biggest gainers have been tokens for platforms such as Alethea's artificial liquid intelligence (ALI), Fetch.ai's (FET) and SingularityNET's AGIX, which have more than tripled.

Some market watchers remain cautious about the AI token hype, however.

“There is a risk that this whole new trend is going to end up in an empty hype, as there are many speculators that would seek to make use of short-term price pumps,” financial market consultant Valentina Drofa told CoinDesk earlier this week. Such cycles are becoming rather tiresome and sad to observe again and again.”

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

Shaurya Malwa