In brief
- AI tokens climbed nearly 6% in 24 hours, lifting their market value to $29.4 billion.
- Numerai crowdsources trading signals, rewarding data scientists with NMR tokens.
- JPMorgan’s potential stake underscores a growing interest in AI-crypto funds.
The token for Numerai, a crypto hedge fund that uses artificial intelligence, led a surge in AI-focused digital assets on Wednesday after JP Morgan Asset Management said it was committing $500 million to the project.
NMR was up more than 100% over the past 24 hours to trade near $23, according to crypto markets data provider CoinGecko.
The AI-token sector rose 5.8% in 24 hours, reaching a total market cap of $29.4 billion, according to CoinGecko. The rally came even after Nvidia, whose hardware underpins much of the artificial intelligence boom, reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings.
Among the 24-hour gainers, Near Protocol (NEAR) climbed 1.5%, the token of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) added 1.3%, and Internet Computer (ICP) rose 1%.
Founded in 2015, Numerai crowdsources market forecasts from data scientists, rewarding top models with its NMR token. It began with an encrypted online tournament where participants competed to predict stock prices.
In hedge fund terms, “capacity” means an investor has locked in the option to allocate a set amount of money to a fund, ensuring access even if the fund later limits new investments. It signals a reserved allocation, not an immediate transfer of funds. Numerai has attracted high-profile early backers over the years, including Paul Tudor Jones, Naval Ravikant, and Renaissance Technologies co-founder Howard Morgan.
The Numerai deal marks another pivot for JPMorgan, whose CEO Jamie Dimon has long been a vocal crypto skeptic. Dimon once called Bitcoin a “fraud” and likened digital assets to “decentralized Ponzi schemes.”
But Dimon has softened his stance. At a May investor day, Dimon said that while he still doesn’t support Bitcoin personally, JP Morgan would allow clients to buy it. In June, the bank said it was exploring crypto‑backed lending and offering loans backed by clients’ digital‑asset holdings.
JP Morgan Asset Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt.