Cryptocurrencies in the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) agents sector soared on Tuesday while bitcoin (BTC) stalled below its Monday record highs as traders await for the first crypto-specific actions from the Donald Trump administration.
AI16Z and AI Rig Complex’s ARC rallied over 30% through the day, while GRIFFAIN, ZEREBRO also booked double-digit advances. Part of the rally might have to do with Tuesday afternoon news about President Trump preparing to announce up to $500 billion in private sector AI infrastructure investment with firms such as OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank involved. Trump also rescinded on Monday Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order on AI risks on consumers, rolling back efforts to regulate the fast-growing sector.
The crypto AI agent sector garnered significant mindshare among traders, growing into a multibillion dollar asset class since October when the first AI tokens emerged. These agents, represented by a crypto token, are autonomous programs developed to perform specific tasks such as posting on social media, provide market insights, create memecoins or make transactions on-chain to execute trades.
“Conviction got tested on ai/crypto, but after Altman gave the blessing, Trump just did the same with the AI infra build-out headline,” Will Clemente, founder of Reflexivity Research, said in an X post. “As long as BTC doesn’t fall back below 100 [thousand dollars], think this sector is where the hot ball of money goes.”
The broader crypto market is in a wait-and-see mode, with most large-cap tokens in the CoinDesk 20 Index posting modest gains. Bitcoin was up 3% over the past 24 hours at $106,000, slightly below its Monday top, boosted by MicroStrategy (MSTR) adding another 11,000 BTC for $1.1 billion to its treasury. The largest corporate holder of the asset now holds over $49 billion worth of BTC.
Ethereum’s ether (ETH) still wobbles near its 4-year weakest price against BTC as community backlash mounts on the Ethereum Foundation, the development organization behind the blockchain, for losing market share in value and blockchain activity to competitors.
“In light of a strong BTC rally into an absurdly frothy weekend of memecoin madness and huge expectations with regard to Trump’s crypto policies, we favor a soft derisking after a very strong two-month period,” K33 Research analysts said in a Tuesday report. “We expect crypto specific executive orders to drive volatility, with the most plausible early executive orders being a SAB 121 repeal and a pardoning of Ross Ulbricht,”
Bitcoin’s weekend surge ran into a resistance at the $110,000 level, but the dips to $100,000 were bought up quickly, noted Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group.
“There was speculation of selling on the failure of President Trump to make any mention of crypto during the inauguration,” Kruger said in an emailed note. “Such concerns appear to be vastly overstated, especially with so much commitment coming from President Trump towards the space in recent months, including the latest launch of his memecoins, activity at World Liberty Financial, and ongoing talk of a strategic bitcoin reserve.”
“Whatever the case, the outlook remains exceptionally bright, with Monday setbacks well supported into the dip,” he added.
