After the artificial intelligence boom, investors pursued projects that combined this exciting sector with cryptocurrency.
According to Fortune’s own sources, Bittensor Bittensor, a decentralized artificial intelligence market, has attracted the attention of leading venture capital companies. Polychain, Digital Currency Group, and dao5 have collectively invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the project’s token, TAO.
TAO, which was previously only available through mining, mid-tier exchanges and over-the-counter markets, was listed for trading on both Binance and Crypto.com last week.
Bittensor founder Jacob Steeves shared in an interview with Fortune that the emergence of centralized tools from tech giants such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta has validated his project. Steeves, who started working on Bittensor in 2015, expressed his excitement as a founder, even though Bittensor is facing allegations of benefiting from the artificial intelligence craze.
Dao5, an investment fund founded by Polychain alumnus Tekin Salimi, holds approximately $50 million in TAO and was an early supporter of Bittensor’s ecosystem, according to Fortune. Digital Currency Group (DCG), the powerful cryptocurrency empire founded by Barry Silbert, is another backer, holding approximately $100 million of TAO.