In order to create AI-powered decentralized applications (DApps), community-owned Ritual network and EigenLayer, the largest restaking protocol on Ethereum by total value locked (TVL), have teamed.According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, the cooperation seeks to provide AI capabilities to DApps, including smart agents, AI-powered decentralized financial (DeFI) applications, and autonomous media generation. It also aims to introduce Ethereum-level restaking security on the Ritual network.Crypto-economic, AI-driven coprocessors may drive economic incentives and bring significant new functionality to blockchain networks, claims EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan. Written by Kannan.
“Ritual is building the first crypto-economic AI coprocessor to unlock a new generation of AI-enabled smart DApps. We are extremely excited to partner with this innovative team to bring Ethereum staking security to this nascent space and enable EigenLayer stakers and operators to help power a more decentralized, transparent AI ecosystem.”
The collaboration coincides with a rise in interest in AI crypto solutions following Vitalik Buterin’s X post on February 18, which revealed the Ethereum co-founder’s enthusiasm for AI-powered smart contract auditing as a means of repairing faulty code.Bugs are identified by Buterin as the Ethereum network’s “biggest technical risk.”
Ritual claims that their initial solution, Infernet, would be the first to provide native and affordable access to AI models for smart contracts.Through this integration, new Actively Validated Services (AVS) will be developed to power Ritual’s infrastructure and allow GPU-capable EigenLayer restakers to support decentralized inference, testing, and fine-tuning in its on-chain economy.Ritual was established in 2023 and consists of a network of computing units for hosting, inferring, and optimizing AI models. Additionally, it has an application programming interface, or API, layer that facilitates the accessibility of AI models and security measures that ensure computational integrity.Ritual co-founder Niraj Pant believes that the new integration may make AI-enabled DApps more effective.He penned.
“This integration extends the power of EigenLayer to AI computation, an exciting new capability for crypto developers. We’re excited to partner with the team as the first EigenLayer AI AVS, harnessing Ethereum’s native security and capital to enable smarter AI-enabled dApps on the Ritual network.”
Following GPU manufacturer Nvidia’s fourth-quarter results announcement for 2023, which showed a 265% year-over-year gain in revenue, the AI-crypto sector saw a major surge. Nvidia went on to overtake Tesla as Wall Street’s most-traded stock in the 30 trading sessions leading up to February 22.According to CoinMarketCap, the market capitalization of AI tokens increased 11.2% to $25.4 billion in the 24 hours before 1:30 pm CET on February 22 in response to the financial reports.The market capitalization of AI-based cryptocurrency tokens doubled in the last month.