What’s causing the meteoric rise of AI x Crypto AppChains?

The convergence of AI and blockchain has led to the creation of various state-of-the-art solutions that are already addressing many real-world challenges. In our previous article,  we’ve already discussed the integral role of blockchain rollups in fueling AI growth. Now, let’s talk about AI x Crypto appchains that building with leading frameworks such as Cosmos SDK chains, Avalanche L1s, and Polkadot Parachains. 

Throughout this article, we’ll learn about AI x blockchain networks using their own application-specific standalone chains. Although it’s not possible to discuss all the AI x Crypto AppChains at once, we’ve picked top projects based on parameters like network effects, maturity, TVL, and, most importantly, funding raised. We’ll basically dive into how these projects are leveraging the benefits of the appchain ecosystem. 

• Computation 

Akash Network: 

Akash Network is a premier decentralized compute marketplace that allows users to trade computing resources like CPU compute power or GPU in a secure and efficient manner. Akash Network claims to reduce upto 80% of applications’ compute cost. Akash handles its marketplace activities on its AI x Crypto Appchain, which was built with Cosmos SDK. A Sovereign blockchain allows Akash to prioritize extensive user privacy and security while establishing seamless connections with other blockchains using Cosmos IBC. 

Akash Neywork is the home to 32+ projects, including prominent ones like Thirdweb, University of Texas at Austin, Prime Intellect, Venice.ai, and Morhepheus AI, are deployed on Akash Network, and its demand side activity grew by 44% in Q2, 2024, translating to 15M+ total transactions.

Phala Network 

Phala Network is a powerful, multi-proof AI execution layer for web3. The network integrates AI into the web3 to automate a range of operations such as research, NFT swapping, purchasing, and more. Phala Network supports a range of innovative Web3 use cases, from distributed off-chain computing to trustless MEV, AI Agent contract, account abstraction, and more. You can build your own smart contract-based agent or use existing ones from projects like Fetch.ai, Autonolos, Polywrap, etc. This cutting-edge concept of Phala has already aggregated 25+ projects, contributing to around $209M to build on its ecosystem. And this has also allowed Phala to raise $10M in funding in  the latest 2 rounds. 

Built as a Polkadot Parachain, Phala Network is capable of offering compute power to diverse chains in the ecosystem while enabling features like privacy-eich DeFi trading, DID confidential details, light bridges, and more. 

Automata Network (Automata 2.0)

Automata Network is a privacy-preserving sovereign chain built as Polkadot Parachain to offer a modular attestation layer for establishing trust across computing machines. Automate uses TEE-based Coprocessors to maintain reliability in on-chain authenticity verification while also allowing rollup chains to lean more towards an Ethereum-aligned future. Automata has recently raised  $3.4M funding over three rounds. Built as a Parachain, Automata achieves a high degree of privacy, network security, and frictionless computation while benefiting from built-in interoperability. 

Secret Network

Secret Network is a Cosmos SDK-based appchain designed to power Web3 privacy through its confidential computing layer.  The project has raised a whopping $400M fund recently.  The network leverages a combination of Software Guard Extension (SGX), various encryption schemes, and a fully-trusted execution environment to bring default privacy to Web3. 

Secret Network allow projects and developers to build dApps with encrypted data, thereby unlocking powerful & innovative use cases. Secret Network is built with Cosmos SDK, which allow the network to offer interoperable privacy to the entire Cosmos ecosystem and EVM chains. Further, Cosmos SDK allow Secret to benefit from enhanced modularity, flexibility, and dedicated throughput. 

• Storage: 

Jackal

Jackal is a leading provider of decentralized data storage to individuals, businesses, and blockchains while slashing down any risk of localized disasters. Thereby, Jackal ensures smooth, efficient, and internet-scale dApps across major areas like storage, cyber security, digital forensics, and a lot more. Built with Cosmos SDK, Jackal leverages Cosmos’s IBC to simplify smart contract calls and make its storage system powerful with 45M+ TVL. Jackal highlights about the following main reasons for building its AI x Crypto appchain with Cosmos SDK:

• Fast block times- 6.0s 

• Low transaction fee of $0.0004 

• 500+ Mbps download speed

• Ability to manage 259,104+

• Wallets

• Seamless chain upgrades.

Bluzelle: 

Bluzelle is a next-gen Layer1 blockchain built with Cosmos SDK to offer powerful decentralized storage solutions for projects spanning AI to socialFi and various application-specific use cases. Bluezelle is an innovative and fast growing projects that has recently raised $2.50M funding. Bluzelle ensure that creators on web3 can leverage a storage system which is reliable, censorship restsiytant, and redundant to ensure 100% security of data, files, NFT, and digital content. Powered with Cosmos SDK, Bluzelle network boasts a TPS of 10K while also maintaining seamless interoperability with independent Cosmos chains.

• Bandwidth:

Deeper Network: Deeper (DPER) Network is one of the world’s leading decentralized network for powering a fully private, fair, and secure internet. Deeper Network focuses on creating a Web 3.0 infrastructure where users can share their unused bandwidth and earn rewards in DPR. With its unique concept, Deeper Network raised $5.50M funding in their latest round. Deeper Network utilizes Parachain to scale endlessly and benefit from other Parachain’s capabilities like interchain connectivity, independent token economics.

Sentinel: Sentinel is a dVPN Network that allows users to browse their preferred websites safely while also interacting with Sentinel dVPN and apps built on it. Also, users can run a node on Sentinel to sell their unsed bandwidth. Despite being a new project, Sentinel has over 539.2K unique users and around 5K nodes that remain active & online. $3.5M funding. Sentinel has built its AI x Crypto appchain with Cosmos SDK to benefit from ABCI Layer, massive scalability, inter-chain interoperability,  Tendermint’s bonded POS (bPOS), validator & governance. 

• AI DePIN

Peaq: Peaq is a Layer1 blockchain focused on accelerating DePIN adoption across mainstream industries like energy, connectivity, mobility, and more. Peaq claims to be the world’s largest and rapidly growing DePIN ecosystem with 300K+ total users, $25M+ tokenized RWA, 45+ DePINs, 20+ industries, and 1M+ devices accommodating its powerful network. Also, Peaq successfully raised $24.9M in a latest round of funding.

While Peaq leverages a comprehensive benefits from Polkadot Parachain, the key value proposition it highlights is Parachain’s native interoperability enabled through cross-chain messaging (XCM). This allows Peaq to interact with all the other Parachains while also involving in data exchange with independent blockchains like Ethereum, Cosmos, Solana, and Binance BNB.

Nodle

Nodle is a smartphone-centric AI DePIN network that leverages Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) from millions of mobile devices and routers contributing to the network for the creation of a platform for social good. Any smartphone user can participate in open-source Nodle Network and get rewarded. With 5M+ active users, 30M IoT devices connected, coverage of 100+ countries– Nodle is definitely offering a powerful network to offer resources like bandwidth and wireless radio to everyone.

Also, Nodle raised over $1.5M equity funding in its two funding rounds held in 2021 and 2018. Building Parachain allows Nodle to use vital Parachain modules like ‘Sponsored transactions’, offer high throughput via parallel processing while ensuring a high degree of trust & decentralization.

• Verification & ownership:

Frequency

Frequency is a decentralized social networking protocol designed to offer essential infrastructure for development of next-gen apps for social networking. Frequency integrates these apps with the capabilities to keep more control on the data- social graph or identity data to securely participate in the growing digital economy. As an innovative AI x Crypto appchain, Frequency has raised $21.3M funding in 3 rounds. Regarding their decision to launch a parachain, these are the key reasons:

• Ability to scale without worrying about cost.

• Coinless delegation and users for frictionless growth.

• Maximized throughput with off-chain data broadcasting.

• Standardized data interoperability due to shared schemas.

Medibloc: Medibloc is building Panacea, a patient-centric decentralized Layer1 blockchain built with Cosmos SDK. Optimized for healthcare data exchange, Panacea allow users to have full sovereignty and control over their data so that they can use the data as needed.

DID & credential verification services are the backbone of Medibloc’s Panacea, enabling patients to share their specific data with data consumers and get incentive for this. However, for further verification, data consumers can authenticate the data referring to the DID credentials stored on Panacea. With such a much-needed initiative, Medibloc has successfully raised an initial funding of $3.5 Million.

Panacea benefits from Cosmos SDK’s various features and components such as high-performance ecosystem with partially synchronous BFT consensus, DPoS model, governance, IBC tech, fast finality, and solid security.

• Marketplace:

Pundi AI: Pundi AI (previous known as Function X) is a platform designed to remove monopoly from AI data and democratize its access through an open & decentralized ecosystem. Pundi AI essentially data to an open AI marketplace and it encourages users to participate and contribute to the pool. To achieve this, Pundi AI offers a complete set of decentralized tools and services including omnichain data layer, annotation platform, and data tagging. Pundi AI uses Cosmos Python SDK to manage its wallet features, connect to nodes, and maintain inter-chain interoperability with IBC module. Pundi AI does not share solid information around its funding, but it has a huge TVL of 91.03M , 749.06M transactions, and 133.53K addresses.

Passage: Passage is an appchain built with Cosmos SDK to offer a 3D immersive marketplace to worldwide creators; be it for gaming, DeFi, and unique enterprise purposes. Passage utilizes a blend of AI, IoT, and AR/VR technologies to conhesily integrate web3 digital world with the real-world. Passage is now a part of Cosmos’ interchain ecosystem, benefiting from an ever-expanding ecosystem while also being able to offer a fully tailored network due to Cosmos SDK’s flexible and modular architecture. With its innovative concept, Passage could encourage investors to raise $6M funding in its latest round.

Masa Network: Masa Network is an Avalanche L1 appchain designed to offer an open, privacy-by-default and fully open & fair network powered by AI. The network allows users to earn by sharing data & compute while developers can utilize specific data to build their preferred solution like AI agents, analytics platform, data resources, and more. As a sovereign chain on Avalanche, Masa Network is able to scale globally while also achieving interoperability with other Avalanche L1s to create a vast zk-data network. Masa’s AI data marketplace concept has allowed the project to raise $5.4M through seed funding and create a rapidly growing network of 479,822 total transactions, 4393 total addresses. 

• Autonomous AI agent

Humans AI: Humans AI is a AI x Cryto appchain dedicated to creation of smart, personalized AI agents across a fair & decentralized ecosystem. The platform deeply integrates with a company/community/application’s desired human expertise to craft AI agents according to their requirements, for example- a rich dialpgues and leadership skills. Humans AI is secured by 50+ active validators, it has a rising TVL of $198.33K, and it has secured around 1.5M funding in its last round in 2022. 

Humans AI’s operates on its proof-of-stake custom blockchain built with Cosmos SDK framework. This allows Humans AI network to achieve instant finality, high throughput, and block time of less than 5 seconds. Additionally, Humans AI chain implements a complete set of Cosmos SDK modules, CometBFT, and IBC to leverage next-level capabilities.

• Utility-based AI agent: 

Fetch.AI: Fetch.AI is a decentralized, open marketplace of utility-based AI agents. Users can create, deploy, and discover suitable AI agents to use in their business or project. Built with Cosmos SDK, the platform offers a modular stack to create and manage human-focused agents with unique communication capabilities and specific features through technologies like Vertex AI, Crew AI, Lang chain, LLMs, AI/ML models, and custom logics. 

Further, Cosmos SDK-based appchain acts as the backbone of Fetch AI’s various components like AI Engine, Agents, Agentverse, and DeltaV. 

A standalone blockchain ofcourse allow for faster finality and dedicated throughput while also allowing Fetch AI to maintain compatibility with all the Cosmos chain and Ethereum networks. Fetch.AI’s concept of AI x Crypto appchain is widely recognized and thus it has raised $61.9M as equity funding in latest 5 rounds.

• DeFi AI agent

Axelar AI Bot: Axelar, the web3 interoperability platform built with Cosmos SDK has announced creation of Axelar AI bot that will serve as a DeFi AI agent to guide users thoroughly about the Axelar Network and ensure their seamless onboarding. Note that, Axelar AI bot will serve the Axelar appchain network to perform network-wide DeFi operations like sharing developer knowledge, liquidity checks, real-time information gathering, and more.

• Digital twins

IXO Protocol: IXO Protocol is a mainstream projects of IXO World, which is designed to create specific digital twins across various real-world entities and connecting them all across a decentralized data network. For example, devices, plots, sensors, or human agents. To offer this, IXO Protocol uses impact oracles that comes with Casual AI models and Human Agent Networks to enable issue of specific impact credits. IXO protocol doesn’t share much information around funding or traction, though it positions itself as an impact project trusted by organizations like Sigma, Zeromission, University of Columbia, and Barnfonden.

• Infrastructure & tools

Oraichain: Oraichain is a Layer1 chain built with Cosmos SDK to offer a core infrastructure for building human-centric AI applications in a decentralized ecosystem. Oraichain empowers AI x blockchain projects to build across various verticals spanning DeFi, NFTs, Identity, RWA, healthcare, and more. Oraichain’s motivation to build with Cosmos SDK comes from three major aspects- open-source nature of Cosmos SDK framework, flexibility to build a public and domain-speific chain, and the ability to connect with other Cosmos chains. Oraichain doesn’t share much details about funding, but it has a solid TVL of $13.8M signifying its growth & rapid adoption.

KYVE: KYVE is a fully decentralized data hub running on its own Layer1 to offer blockchain data as public good. The network acts as a data lake that allows both the data consumers and providers to validate and permanently store historical data with complete security and privacy. With 6TB+ data archived, $13M+TVL, and 60M+ transactions, KYVE serves as a leading as a data indexing network to have secured $9M funding in its latest round.

KYVE chose to build AI x Crypto appchain with Cosmos SDK because of the ease of scaffolding chains, block creation, seamless transactions processing & governance. Cosmos enables KYVE to offer extremely faster blocks while eliminating the challenges of sharing block space.

• Verifiable Credentials (VCs)

Lamina1: Lamina1, the on-chain marketplace of digital makers, co-creation, and concetent has deployed its Avalanche L1– The Lamina1 Identity protocol that provides decentralized identity service to the broad Avalanche ecosystem and the Lamina1 platform itself. Essentially Lamina1 determine the availability of usernames based on their address, profile, or specific identity credentials. 

Lamina1 identity network is based on Lamina1 blockchain built as Layer1 on Avalanche to benefit from its scalabke, interoperable (i.e. Subnets), and Ethereum-compatible system that powers unparalleled performance and security for Lamina1. As of now, Lamina1 identity L1 has 77,025 transactions, 32446 addresses, and the network is growing tremendously fast. 

Phyken Network: Phyken Network is a Layer1 chain designed to enable fractional ownership of  Real-World Assets (RWAs) in blockchain, especially for green and renewable energy sectors. Phyken Network has successfully secured a place among 18 cleantech projects to receive €173M ($2.06 million) funding for innovation & development. Phyken ID, AI-based compliance, Attester Infrastructure, and 3rd party audit framework are the multiple solutions powerting Phyken Network.

As a Polkadot Parachain, Phyken Network maintains efficiency, ESG Goals compliance while achieving a low carbon footprint through Polkadot’s tech. Also, shared security model, multi-chain interoperability, and scalable infrastructure  from Polkadot allow Phyken to grow endlessly while maintaining world-class performance & security.

• Privacy

LayerX (ZeroChain): ZeroChain is a general-purpose privacy-protection layer that stores encrypted data in a fully permissive way, keeping the data accessible to specific people with decryption key. ZeroChain is a projects from LayerC which has raised a funding of $34M over two rounds. Built with Substrate, ZeroChain serves as an independent Parachain that uses useful Substrate modules to protect users’ data and maintain complete privacy. Further, ZeroChain is powered by zero-knowledge proving to reduce cost of on-chain storage and offer enhanced flexibility in application development on its ecosystem.

• Identity &  Security

• DID

Litentry: Litentry serves as a decentralized identity aggregation protocol for diverse blockchain networks. Litentry tackles identity-related challenges like data fragmentation, lack of trust, privacy concerns, inefficiencies, and more. Litentry stand apart with 400K+ unique IDHub addresses, 1M+ generated credentials, and 120K+ social relations. Also, Litentry has raised $2.97M funding in a latest round. Designed as a Polkadot Parachain, Litentry offers a Substrate-based Layer1 chain that inherits security and interoperability from Relay chain. 

Also, there are some AI x Crypto Appchains that are new or they don’t yet share solid information about their project, funding, TVL, or traction. These includes Khala Network (computing),  Aioz Network (AI DePIN), Giant (marketplace), Calamari Network (privacy), Litmus (DID) and more,

Note: All the stats about networks, funding, traction, TVL, and valuation is validated from prominent analytics platforms like Coinmarketcap, Dune Analytics, Crunchase, Tracxn, DefiLama, DappRadar, Binance, and more.

As discussed, AI x Crypto appchains have been seeing exponential growth, both in terms of number of projects and innovations. This is encouraging for various AI projects to shift to blockchain and tap into the potential of distributed ledger technology. If you are planning to build your AI x crypto appchain, explore Zeeve’s appchain services. With Zeeve, you can save 60% in cost and benefit from faster time-to-market. Zeeve’s appchain services are supported for all the leading frameworks like Avalanche L1, Polkadot Parachain, and Cosmos SDK. Also, if you want to manage or upgrade your Polyfon Edge network with Zeeve. 

For more information about Zeeve’s appchain offerings and blockchain-based offerings, connect with our experts. You can send your queries via mail or schedule a one-to-one call for a detailed discussion.