Artificial intelligence is a shiny new thing being venture capitalist-funded, and once-hot cryptocurrency projects are struggling for funding.
Evan Cheng, co-founder and CEO of Mysten Labs, said the shift is due to AI products and applications catering to a wider audience while the crypto industry continues to focus on itself. I was.
“Interdisciplinary venture capitalists are turning more and more attention to investing in artificial intelligence, driven by the proven value of the technology to consumers,” Cheng said, adding that AI’s post-2017 I contrasted the explosion with the explosion of cryptocurrencies.
“ChatGPT came out and [developers] We build products and applications for consumers and developers. A wide range of large-scale use cases are immediately possible. In crypto, the industry has built products for crypto people.
Founded in 2021, Mysten Labs provides a technical infrastructure platform dedicated to the development and adoption of Web3 projects and boasts a leadership team that includes former Apple and Meta (then Facebook) scientists and engineers. . Last March, Mysten Labs launched the Sui blockchain, which aims to provide fast transactions with low latency and low cost.
Cheng said the growing interest in AI among VCs is evident in their activity on social media, especially Twitter.
Cheng didn’t give a specific example of the change in investments, but one might be the $150 million investment in Character AI last month by longtime crypto investment firm Andreessen Horowitz. Lightspeed Venture Partners also participated in his $101 million funding round in October 2022 for Stability AI, the team behind Stable Diffusion, an AI text-to-image platform.
Even blockchain companies are investing in AI. In February, Tron founder Justin Sun said the company would launch a $100 million AI development fund.
Cheng believes AI, blockchain and Web3 technologies are still complementary areas and can be used in consumer products as well. Conversely, we were skeptical about incorporating AI as a core component, as it may not be necessary or appropriate for all applications.
“One area that we are very interested in and where we see a lot of opportunities is the use of AI technology in developer tools,” Cheng said. “For example, Smart has already seen its value in contract audits and code assistance.
“There are buzzword products that combine AI and cryptocurrencies, but I am skeptical of their true utility,” he continued. “But Smart said that when it comes to developer tools for contract developers, it’s definitely a fruitful area.”
Citing the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as examples, Chen said VCs tend to follow trends and invest in compelling narratives. However, he stresses the importance of providing tangible value to attract the attention of VCs. He said it can be collected.
Chen said that the introduction of innovative and consumer-focused products will rekindle interest in investing in the blockchain and crypto sector, giving a positive outlook on the future of Web3, blockchain and the crypto sector. maintain.
“I believe there are a lot of big, powerful, exciting products for consumers, and that’s what really excites me,” he said. “By presenting people with compelling and imaginative ideas, we can bring investment back into the field.”
