4E Labs|Not just an outlet but a paradigm shift: the rise of AI Crypto and the roadmap for the next decade

Author: Mere X

The combination of AI + Crypto is not only an "infrastructure innovation" but also an attempt to upgrade the governance model. It challenges the boundaries of human society's imagination of "intelligent systems" and "power control" for decades. Once AI is decentralized, is it still the original AI? How will we restrain an agent without a company, without a legal address, who may "have a will"?

AI and Crypto, two of the most transformative technological directions of the 21st century, are accelerating their convergence to give birth to a disruptive new field: AI Crypto (Artificial Intelligence Crypto Ecosystem). It not only represents the evolution of the next generation of Web3 infrastructure but is also redefining the intelligent collaboration model in the Internet of Value.

This article will comprehensively analyze the current development status of the AI + Crypto track, representative projects, growth drivers, challenge risks, and trend predictions for 2030.

1. Market overview: the early stage of exponential growth

According to a research report by Market.us, the global AI and crypto market is valued at approximately $3.7 billion in 2024, and this figure is expected to exceed $47 billion by 2034, with a staggering compound annual growth rate of 28.9%.

Grayscale proposed in 2024 to track "AI Crypto" as a standalone asset class. The sector's market capitalization grew from about $4.5 billion in 2023 to more than $21 billion in 2025 and is divided into three sub-tracks:

1. AI model training infrastructure (e.g., Bittensor, Nous)

2. On-chain data and agent ecosystems (e.g., The Graph, Fetch.ai)

3. GPU rendering and computing power networks (e.g., Render Network, Akash)

According to research by The Business Research Company, the market for "generative AI in crypto" is growing particularly rapidly, expected to reach $3.3 billion by 2029, with an annual growth rate of more than 34%.

2. Drivers: Why did this track explode?

The core driving force behind the integration of AI and blockchain lies in their joint response to the bottleneck of "centralized intelligence" and the need for "collaborative computing".

1. Decentralized alternative to Web2 cloud intelligence

Large language models (such as GPT, Claude, Gemini) are mostly centralized services, but Web3 requires an open, verifiable, and censorship-resistant "intelligent source". Bittensor's neural network training system completes decentralized inference through blockchain incentive mechanisms, solving the monopoly problem of Web2 clouds.

2. The rise of the on-chain AI Agents ecosystem

Projects such as Fetch.ai and Autonolas are building "on-chain auto-executors" that can realize self-decision-making, self-deployment, and self-learning AI applications in DeFi, DAO governance, asset management, and other scenarios, greatly improving the intelligence of on-chain applications.

3. The AI evolution of DeFi and TradFi

More and more trading platforms (such as dYdX, GMX) are introducing AI prediction systems for risk control and strategy adjustment. Generative AI is used to generate structured financial reports, on-chain asset portraits, and LP simulators.

4. Dual drive of safety and compliance

AI is becoming the core engine of on-chain compliance tools (such as Chainalysis AI module, OpenZeppelin code scanning), assisting enterprises in high-level compliance needs such as anti-money laundering, smart contract detection, and behavioral model analysis.

3. Analysis of representative projects (selected)

Currently, there are several projects in the AI Crypto ecosystem that stand out at the technical and market levels. Among them, Bittensor is a pioneer in building a decentralized AI network, forming an open system for continuous training and inference by incentivizing contributing model nodes. Fetch.ai has deployed an on-chain intelligent agent system to provide automated execution capabilities for IoT and financial transactions, and has already cooperated with physical enterprises such as Bosch; Render Network focuses on the decentralized sharing of GPU rendering resources, and its network can support AI model training and AR/VR applications, and is technically compatible with the Apple Vision platform. The Graph provides structured access services for on-chain data, forming the data memory and indexing support of AI Agent. Nous Research is building a multi-model collaborative training market to provide full lifecycle management and economic incentives for open source LLMs. Autonolas proposes the concept of "multi-agent autonomous protocol", attempting to closely integrate AI Agent with DAO governance mechanisms to build a truly on-chain autonomous intelligent system.

Project Name: Token Function Positioning, Key Cooperation/FeaturesBittensorTAOAI model-trained decentralized network, imitates deep learning architecture, and provides mining incentive model sharing and inference servicesFetch.aiFETTon-chain AI Agent platform cooperates with Bosch and Datarella, focusing on IoT and mobile paymentsRender NetworkRNDRRdecentralized GPU rendering service is compatible with Apple Vision and is widely deployed on AR/VR & AIThe GraphGRT Blockchain Data Indexing Layer Supports Agent Memory, Training Data Acquisition, and Cross-Chain Data Flow Nous Research-AI Model Market and Collaborative Training Platform The latest valuation exceeds $1B, and it is building an "AI supermarket" systemAutonolasOLAS Multi-Agent Autonomous Protocol (MAA) emphasizes the combination of AI + DAO and explores the on-chain "company agent" model.

4. Macro trends and 2025-2034 roadmap forecast

Not only within the blockchain industry, but also mainstream technology companies are gradually laying out this integration track. NVIDIA not only opens up the CUDA toolchain to adapt to on-chain model training, but also promotes the growth of multiple decentralized AI projects through strategic investments; OpenAI and Filecoin jointly explore "verifiable data storage networks", aiming to solve the transparency and auditing issues of model training data; Meta AI is committed to researching the traceability mechanism of on-chain LLMs to enhance model fairness and bias resistance.

At the same time, global regulation is also responding quickly to technological evolution: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched the "Project Crypto" project in early 2025 to study the compliance framework for autonomous contracts and AI decision-making logic; The first draft of the EU draft MiCA 2.0 clearly requires the interpretability and risk disclosure mechanism of on-chain AI systems. Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are relatively open, taking the lead in legally recognizing the agency status of "on-chain agents" to help enterprises pilot innovation in a compliant manner.

Over the next decade, the integration of AI and blockchain is expected to go through five key stages. In 2025, the first generation of on-chain agents will begin to be widely deployed, especially in the Gnosis Chain and OP Stack ecosystems, with a large number of experimental applications emerging. In 2026, AI models will begin to be deeply integrated with Layer2 networks, and mechanisms such as zkML can implement on-chain AI inference logic. By 2027–2028, cross-chain agents will be interconnected and promote the formation of an on-chain "digital employee" system. After 2030, AI agents with memory, reasoning, and execution capabilities will be able to independently complete on-chain collaboration, marking the initial formation of autonomous economies. By 2034, the entire AI crypto market is expected to exceed $47 billion, becoming the new core of the smart economy.

Timeline: Expected milestonesIndustry changes2025The original generation of AI Agents will be deployed on-chain, Gnosis Chain, and OP Stack will mature the Agent framework2026L2 network and AI model integrationzkML will become popular, and AI inference logic will be executed on-chain2027–2028Cross-chain Agent generalizationMulti-chain collaborative AI systems and on-chain "digital employees"2030+ autonomous economies will initially realize AI-driven DAOs/ DAO-as-a-Service Institutional Development 2034 Market Size Exceeds $47 Billion AI Models and Asset Management Fully Integrated.

5. Risk and action guidelines

Despite its immense market potential, the AI + Crypto track faces several key challenges. First, AI decision-making output lacks stability and certainty, especially in the financial field, where a single wrong reasoning may cause asset-level risks. Secondly, smart contract systems rely heavily on model behavior verification, and current mechanisms such as zkML are still immature enough to achieve efficient auditing and on-chain verification. In addition, in the context of unified regulations in multiple countries, there are still ambiguous areas in the legal status, attribution of responsibilities and law enforcement logic of AI Agents. If regulations are tightened or ethical restrictions are strengthened in the future, it may have a significant impact on the implementation of the project.

For investors, the layout should revolve around three main lines: AI model infrastructure, on-chain data services, and intelligent agent systems. You can consider combining tokens with actual network effects, such as TAO, RNDR, GRT, etc., to avoid chasing projects without actual landing. Developers should focus on the AI Agent's execution framework and data module adaptation, and explore the development tools provided by Autonolas and Fetch.ai. DAO managers can try to introduce auxiliary governance systems, such as using AI to provide proposal scoring, budget modeling, and other functions to improve organizational operational efficiency. Academic and technical researchers can participate in building an intelligent collaboration framework in the Web3 era from zkML, verifiable AI (VAI), model contract auditing, data sovereignty mechanisms, etc.

The role recommends that investors deploy infrastructure assets such as TAO, RNDR, GRT, etc., to avoid single speculative projects, developers give priority to exploring agent frameworks (such as Autonolas), model sockets, and AI oracle interfaces

Conclusion, is AI + Crypto a technology convergence or a reconstruction of governance paradigms?

When we talk about the integration of AI and blockchain, we are talking about much more than the splicing of two popular technologies. We are in a deep game between "intelligent ownership" and "control structure". Traditional AI models rely on centralized platforms to grow, and user data becomes the fuel to be trained, optimized, and commercialized. But blockchain proposes the opposite ethical foundation – transparency, verifiability, self-sovereignty. So, once AI is decentralized, is it still the original AI? How will we restrain an agent without a company, without a legal address, who may "have a will"? If an on-chain agent can schedule funds, issue contracts, and participate in governance, should it be given legal personality or responsibility? These questions will determine whether we can truly build an intelligent ecology guided by humans, rather than being ruled by them in reverse.

In a sense, the combination of AI + Crypto is not only an "infrastructure innovation" but also an attempt to upgrade the governance model. It challenges the boundaries of human society's imagination of "intelligent systems" and "power control" for decades. And we are standing at the entrance to this future, not only to embrace change, but also to respond to the coming era of autonomous intelligence with a clear sense of risk and institutional imagination.