On Monday, cryptocurrencies associated with artificial intelligence continued their upward trajectory following a keynote address by Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang at the GTC developer conference. In his presentation, he outlined the company’s vision for the future of AI infrastructure.
Among the notable performers was NEAR, an AI-centric blockchain that surged over 10% in just 24 hours, reaching its highest point since late January. The FET token from the decentralized AI initiative Artificial Superintelligence Alliance experienced a remarkable intraday increase of up to 20%, although it later adjusted its gains during trading.
Additionally, WLD—an identity-focused cryptocurrency co-founded by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman—saw an approximate rise of 10%, trading close to $0.40 and marking its strongest position since early March. Grass (GRASS), a decentralized platform enabling users to monetize excess internet bandwidth for training AI models, also made significant strides with a 13% increase to new highs for 2026.
This surge coincided with Huang’s emphasis on Nvidia’s pivotal role in driving global advancements in AI technology. He mentioned that there is an anticipated backlog of chip demand amounting to around $1 trillion through 2027, with hyperscale cloud providers constituting about 60% of this business segment.
Huang further acknowledged the swift emergence of agentic AI systems and commended the OpenClaw project that has recently gained popularity among developers. He noted that Nvidia is working on transforming this system into an enterprise-ready version named NemoClaw aimed at enhancing safety for corporate applications while safeguarding sensitive information.
Although Huang did not mention cryptocurrencies during his speech, numerous blockchain initiatives are banking on the idea that future generations of AI agents will utilize crypto frameworks for autonomous transactions and coordination. Other projects are competing to establish decentralized networks focused on computing power and infrastructure necessary for training these agents while promoting blockchain as a viable alternative to centralized platforms in artificial intelligence.
Nvidia’s shares (NVDA), often regarded as indicative of trends within the AI sector, initially rose about 2% during Huang’s keynote but later retracted some gains before closing approximately 1.5% higher by day’s end.