Agentic AI platform ai16z’s native token has risen following the project’s plans to launch its own Layer-1 blockchain.
ai16z (AI16Z) rose 38% to an all-time high of $1.77 on December 31, with its market capitalization rising from $1.4 billion to $1.9 billion at the time, according to data from crypto.news. The rally was fueled by increased trading activity, with daily volume doubling to $330 million last day.
Zooming out to the weekly and monthly charts, the gains were significantly higher, 156% and 383% respectively, making it one of the best performing assets in the top 100 cryptocurrencies during these periods.
Why did ai16z rise today?
Several catalysts drove ai16z’s recent rally, culminating in ai16z plans to launch an open-source Layer-1 blockchain tailor-made for AI applications, marking an important step in the innovation of tokenomics.
Additionally, the project will introduce a token launch pad in the first quarter of 2025, which would become the primary platform for deploying AI projects built on the Eliza framework, the project’s AI operating system.
The launch pad is expected to include features such as launch fees, wagering requirements for access, and liquidity pool links to generate value for the ai16z token. The token will play a dual role: it functions both as a governance token within the DAO and as a utility token for platform operations.
Investor sentiment was further boosted by Eliza, which in December overtook Google Gemini to become the world’s top AI repository on GitHub, as developers and contributors became increasingly involved in the codebase.
$ai16z/eliza is officially the number one trending repository 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 this December!
We've even surpassed Google Gemini 🔥
The work our community is doing is absolutely incredible, creating a tsunami in the open-source crypto world unlike anything seen since the… pic.twitter.com/v8ZAtZ42SR
— mat 🏴☠️.eth /🦩 (@M4T_NFT) December 30, 2024
Strong market performance, combined with growing hype around AI agents, saw the AI token trend on Google and secure a top spot on CoinGecko.
The increased accumulation of whales over the past week has also helped extend the AI crypto’s rally.
According to a message dated December 31, after by Lookonchain, two wallets likely owned by the same whale have purchased 2.62 million ai16z tokens for 22,641 SOL worth approximately $4.34 million, following the recent developments surrounding ai16z.
Additionally, another whale acquired 1.19 million ai16z tokens for 1.65 million USDC at an average price of $1.39 per token.
Some big players are already making huge profits. A few weeks earlier another strange whale made a profit of $5.66 million after spending 10 million USDC to purchase 13.16 million AI16Z tokens, which later appreciated to a value of $15.66 million.
Moreover, demand for ai16z among derivatives traders has skyrocketed in the past day. According to facts from CoinGlass, open interest in the ai16z futures market has increased by a whopping 256% to over $22.5 million at the time of writing.
Such a sharp upward move usually means traders have a lot of confidence in the potential of the current rally to continue.
According to some market experts, ai16z could surpass other AI heavyweights such as Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL). Daniel Cheung, partner at crypto VC Syncracy Capital, projects that recent developments have positioned ai16z to surpass VIRTUAL, the largest AI agent creation tool by market cap.
At the time of writing, VIRTUAL had a market cap of $3.68 billion, while ai16z was $1.79 billion.
