Cryptocurrencies linked to artificial intelligence extended their rise on Monday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang laid out the company’s vision for the next phase of AI infrastructure during his keynote speech at Nvidia’s GTC developer conference.
Among the big drivers was the AI-focused blockchain. rising more than 10% in the last 24 hours, reaching its highest level since the end of January. The Artificial Superintelligence Alliance decentralized AI project’s FET token rose as much as 20% intraday before paring gains later in the session.
Meanwhile – the identity-focused crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman rose about 10%, trading near $0.40, its highest level since early March. Grass (GRASS), a decentralized network that allows users to monetize unused Internet bandwidth to train artificial intelligence models, rose 13% to new highs in 2026.
The moves came as Huang reinforced Nvidia’s central role in the global AI rise in his speech. During the keynote, he said the company expects about $1 trillion in outstanding chip demand through 2027, with hyperscale cloud providers accounting for about 60% of its business.
Huang also highlighted the rapid rise of agent AI systems and praised the viral OpenClaw project that has gained traction among developers in recent weeks. He said Nvidia worked to adapt the system to an enterprise version called NemoClaw, designed to make autonomous AI agents more secure for corporate use without exposing sensitive data.
While Huang did not reference cryptocurrencies during the speech, a growing number of blockchain projects are betting that the next wave of AI agents will rely on crypto rails to conduct transactions and coordinate autonomously. Other projects are rushing to build decentralized networks for computing power, AI training and agent infrastructure, presenting blockchain as an alternative to centralized AI platforms.
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), widely considered the bellwether of AI trading, initially rose about 2% during the conference before pulling back. The stock ultimately closed about 1.5% higher on the day.
