AI-linked crypto tokens surge as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang touts agentic future

Artificial intelligence-linked cryptocurrencies extended their surge Monday after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang laid out the company’s vision for the next phase of AI infrastructure during his keynote at Nvidia’s GTC developer conference.

Among the big movers were AI-focused blockchain NEAR$1.5020, climbing more than 10% over the past 24 hours, reaching its strongest level since late January. Decentralized AI project Artificial Superintelligence Alliance’s FET token surged as much as 20% intraday before trimming gains later in the session.

Meanwhile WLD$0.4027 — the identity-focused crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — rose about 10%, trading near $0.40, its strongest level since early March. Grass (GRASS), a decentralized network that lets users monetize unused internet bandwidth to train AI models, surged 13% to fresh 2026 highs.

The moves came as Huang reinforced in his speech Nvidia’s central role in the global AI boom. During the keynote, he said the company expects roughly $1 trillion worth of chip demand backlog through 2027, with hyperscale cloud providers accounting for about 60% of its business.

Huang also highlighted the rapid rise of agentic AI systems, praising the viral OpenClaw project that has gained traction among developers in recent weeks. He said that Nvidia worked to adapt the system into an enterprise-ready version called NemoClaw, designed to make autonomous AI agents safer for corporate use without exposing sensitive data.

While Huang did not reference crypto during the speech, a growing number of blockchain projects are betting that the next wave of AI agents will rely on crypto rails to transact and coordinate autonomously. Other projects are racing to build decentralized networks for computing power, AI training and agent infrastructure, pitching blockchain as an alternative to centralized AI platforms.

Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), widely seen as the bellwether of the AI trade, initially jumped about 2% during the keynote before pulling back. The stock ultimately closed roughly 1.5% higher on the day.

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