The Agentic AI platform’s native token ai16z has rallied following the project’s plans to launch its own Layer 1 blockchain.
ai16z (AI16Z) rose 38% to an all-time high of $1.77 on December 31, while its market cap increased from $1.4 billion to over $1.9 billion, according to data from crypto.news increased at this point. The rally was fueled by increased trading activity, with daily volume doubling to $330 million over the past day.
Looking at the weekly and monthly charts, the gains were significantly higher at 156% and 383% respectively, making it one of the best performing assets among the top 100 cryptocurrencies during these periods.
Why is AI16Z up today?
Several catalysts fueled ai16z’s recent rally. Of particular note are the plans to launch an open source Layer 1 blockchain tailored for AI applications, which represents an important step in the overhaul of tokenomics.
Additionally, the project will launch a token launchpad in the first quarter of 2025, which will become the primary platform for deploying AI projects based on the Eliza framework – the project’s AI operating system.
The launchpad is expected to include features such as entry fees, staking requirements for access, and liquidity pool pairings to increase the value of the ai16z token. The token will play a dual role, acting as both a governance token within the DAO and a utility token for platform activities.
Investor sentiment was further boosted by Eliza, which overtook Google Gemini to become the world’s top AI repository on GitHub in December as developers and contributors increasingly engaged with its codebase.