NEAR Foundation Launches $20 Million AI Agent Fund to Boost Development
NEAR Foundation is launching a $20 million AI Agent Fund to promote the development of AI-powered agent tokens within the NEAR ecosystem. The fund aims to accelerate decentralized AI applications and consumer solutions, with distributions planned over several months.
Key Points
- The fund targets collaborations with ecosystems like Sky and Frax to explore AI use cases.
- NEAR believes AI agents will significantly influence future commerce and business.
- It offers developers tools such as NEAR Intents, multi-party computation, trust-minimized bridging, and secure execution environments.
- The initiative complements existing programs like the Horizon AI accelerator and AI hackathons.
Context of AI Investments
The NEAR fund launch coincides with increased investment in AI blockchain solutions:
- 0G Foundation recently announced an $88 million fund for AI applications.
- Aethir and Blockchain Center Abu Dhabi introduced a $100 million fund for AI and gaming projects.
- Galxe rolled out a $50 million fund and additional developer grants to enhance its Gravity blockchain.
With NEAR entering the AI investment space, competition with Ethereum and Solana in AI-driven blockchain applications intensifies.