The NEAR Foundation has announced the launch of a $20 million fund dedicated to accelerating the development of artificial intelligence (AI) agents on the NEAR network. The initiative aims to drive innovation in AI-powered gaming, market automation, and permissionless oracles, positioning NEAR as a leading blockchain ecosystem for AI-driven solutions.
The funding, which will be deployed on-chain over the coming months, will be invested in tokens supporting AI-powered applications, leveraging NEAR’s infrastructure to introduce automation in commercial and financial processes.
Strategic Vision: AI and Blockchain Convergence
As part of this initiative, the NEAR Foundation will collaborate with other ecosystem initiatives, including the Horizon AI accelerator and hackathons, to attract new developers and groundbreaking projects.
The fund’s investment strategy prioritizes applications that go beyond traditional AI-assisted social interactions, focusing on:
- Agent tokenization, allowing AI agents to be represented and traded on-chain.
- Algorithmic order curation, optimizing decision-making in decentralized markets.
- On-chain AI characters, integrating advanced automation into gaming and virtual economies.
By supporting these cutting-edge applications, the fund offers investors and developers a unique opportunity to create disruptive AI-driven solutions that improve efficiency and transparency within the digital asset ecosystem.
Market Reaction: NEAR Gains Momentum
The crypto market responded positively to the announcement. The NEAR token surged 2.72%, reaching $3.38 per token, reflecting strong investor interest in blockchain projects focused on AI development.
The integration of AI and blockchain has been widely recognized as a transformative force by industry leaders, including executives from Nvidia and OpenAI. These experts anticipate that AI-powered blockchain agents will unlock new business models and investment opportunities, driving automation across multiple sectors.
By investing in AI integration, the NEAR Foundation aims to establish these intelligent agents as critical components of digital commerce and financial services, shaping a more automated, scalable, and efficient economy.
