EigenLayer, the leading restaking protocol on Ethereum based on total value locked (TVL), has forged a collaboration with Ritual, a community-owned artificial intelligence (AI) network, to construct decentralized applications (DApps) empowered by AI.
The primary goal of this partnership is to implement Ethereum-level restaking security within the Ritual network and integrate AI capabilities into DApps. These capabilities encompass smart agents, AI-driven decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, and autonomous media generation, as revealed in a press release.
We’re excited to announce that @ritualnet & @eigenlayer are teaming up to supercharge the world of decentralized AI.https://t.co/qZNH7pYElR pic.twitter.com/9PCXT1VHgk
— Ritual (@ritualnet) February 23, 2024
Sreeram Kannan, EigenLayer’s founder, emphasized the potential of crypto-economic, AI-powered coprocessors to introduce innovative functionalities to blockchain networks while incentivizing economic activities. Kannan expressed enthusiasm for partnering with the Ritual team to enhance Ethereum staking security and facilitate EigenLayer stakers and operators in contributing to a more transparent and decentralized AI ecosystem.
hyped to be working with @sreeramkannan @nima_vaziri and others @eigenlayer on bringing restaking to AI
as we move towards the @ritualnet’s sovereign layer, EL will play a huge role in bootstrapping security for the chain and enabling a whole new set of AVSs for AI
Don’t blink… https://t.co/Hwwop6IkZ1
— Saneel Sreeni (@sanlsrni) February 23, 2024
This collaboration coincides with a heightened interest in AI crypto solutions, spurred by a February 18 post by Vitalik Buterin discussing AI-powered smart contract auditing, aiming to address code-related issues. Buterin identified bugs as the most significant technical risk facing the Ethereum network.
One application of AI that I am excited about is AI-assisted formal verification of code and bug finding.
Right now ethereum's biggest technical risk probably is bugs in code, and anything that could significantly change the game on that would be amazing.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 19, 2024
Ritual announced that its initial product, Infernet, will be the first to enable smart contracts to access AI models efficiently and seamlessly. This integration will lead to the development of new Actively Validated Services (AVS) to bolster Ritual’s infrastructure and empower GPU-capable EigenLayer restakers to support decentralized inference, fine-tuning, and verification within its on-chain economy.
Established in 2023, Ritual comprises a network of computing devices for hosting, inference, and fine-tuning AI models, alongside an application programming interface (API) layer for AI model accessibility and security mechanisms ensuring computational integrity.
The AI-crypto sector experienced a notable surge following GPU producer Nvidia’s fourth-quarter earnings report for 2023, which showcased a remarkable 265% year-on-year revenue increase, propelling Nvidia to become the most-traded stock on Wall Street in the 30 trading sessions leading up to February 22.
Subsequent to the earnings release, the market capitalization of AI tokens surged by 2.03% in the 24 hours on February 25, reaching $26.2 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
AI-based crypto tokens witnessed a twofold increase in market capitalization over the past month.
