Crypto expert expects more consolidation through M&A following ASI token creation

It was announced today that three blockchain-based artificial intelligence (AI) companies, SingularityNET, Fetch.ai, and Ocean Protocol have decided to combine their crypto tokens into a new entity called ASI token.

The merger, which creates a token with a fully diluted value of roughly $7.5 billion, is pending approval from the communities of each project.

ASI token created

The proposed "Artificial Superintelligence Alliance" would see the transformation of the projects' existing tokens into the ASI token. Responding to the news, Fetch.ai (FET) and SingularityNET (AGIX) jumped by 15% and 12%, respectively, in the past 24 hours. Ocean Protocol’s token (OCEAN) saw an even larger gain of over 36%.

“The AI field is accelerating at a phenomenal pace. With the release of the latest LLMs, the pace of innovation has noticeably accelerated into a torrent of growth that every single startup, decentralized project and large multinational must come to terms with,” Fetch.ai said in a blog post.

The collaboration seeks to establish the largest open-source, independent entity in AI research and development.

According to Bruce Pon, CEO and co-founder of Ocean Protocol, this deal seeks to leverage the growing AI sector, create a scalable decentralized infrastructure, and accelerate AI investment. The unified ASI token is supposed to secure the public network, facilitate data access, and enable computation without traditional payment methods, serving as the native currency for the machine economy.

The integration proposals are due for submission to the respective governance communities for a 14-day consultation period, with voting expected between April 2 and April 16. If approved, FET will convert to ASI with a total supply of 2.63 billion tokens at a starting price of $2.82. AGIX and OCEAN will migrate to ASI at conversion rates of 0.43335 to 1 and 0.433226 to 1, respectively.

Crypto expert shares a vision for a unified AI ecosystem

Alex Dreyfus, co-founder and CEO of Chiliz, shared his perspective with Investing.com on the proposed tokens merger and the broader AI and blockchain integration.

Dreyfus highlighted the critical need for massive capital, decentralization, and particularly, the consolidation of AI companies.

"AI needs massive capital and decentralization. More importantly, it needs GPU so, instead of AI companies being fragmented, they need to consolidate," he told Investing.com.

Dreyfus also highlighted the uncertain future of AI tokens, stating that he’s not even sure "what is an AI token BUT, I’m sure that there is no room for many AI tokens in the long-term, so the more the resources and talents are working for the SAME ecosystem/rewarding scheme, the better it is for everybody."

Dreyfus further elaborated on the network effect, advocating for a robust AI token ecosystem capable of rewarding companies, developers, and scientists.

"It's all about the network effect; a stronger AI token ecosystem can reward more companies, developers, scientists, etc., and therefore grow more massively."

Addressing the broader implications for blockchain and crypto ecosystems, Dreyfus said "I don’t expect Solana to merge with TON, but I do expect the second half of the top 100 CMC marketcap to participate in some token M&A in order to stay relevant and consolidate liquidity, network effect, decentralization, and branding.”

Interestingly, Dreyfus revealed that fan token blockchain Chiliz has been actively exploring M&A opportunities in recent months to identify the best partners for integration into the chain ecosystem.

Highlighting the democratic nature of blockchain governance, Dreyfus added that eventually it will be “the chain governance that will decide on proposals we may bring to the table, that’s the beauty of it. But as a founder, I definitely believe in token M&A and consolidation.”

“I hope to bring to Chiliz a strong initiative like this,” he concluded.

This article first appeared in Investing.com