AI Token Search Traffic Spikes as Crypto Traders Seek Exposure

Five out of the top six trending cryptocurrencies on price tracker CoinGecko on Wednesday had one thing in common: They’re all related to artificial intelligence, crypto’s hottest new fad.

The tokens – Vaiot's VAI, SingularityNET's AGIX, Fetch.ai's FET, DeepBrain Chain's (DBC) and GNY – are all up at least 70% in value in the past week, outperforming the CoinDesk Market Index – which barely budged, decreasing 0.68% over the same period. The leader of that pack, AGIX, had the largest jump at over 160%. CoinDesk reviewed the trends through data platform SigDev.

AI tokens are garnering massive interest from the crypto space, and their growth in both price and search traffic is one signal showing traders trying to capitalize on the flurry of AI-related headlines that have captured the zeitgeist because of ChatGPT.

Major tech companies are betting big on language models. Microsoft has reportedly invested $10 billion in the chatbot’s creator, OpenAI. That has sparked an AI arms race among search engine companies rushing to overhaul their tech.

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

The fad is making a big imprint on Wall Street: In a recent survey of institutional investors by megabank JPMorgan, 53% of respondents indicated that artificial intelligence and machine learning will have the most influence on finance in the upcoming years.

More people than ever are searching for ways to invest in AI technologies, according to Google trends. The search engine is also seeing a notable uptick in queries of “AI crypto.”

Whether their bravado should extend to crypto is up for debate. Walter Teng, vice president of Digital Asset Strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said in a Twitter message with CoinDesk, “Seems like [FOMO], boredom, degeneracy, wanting to make it back.”