Nvidia's GTC Keynote Sparks Rally in AI-Linked Cryptocurrencies

Artificial intelligence-focused cryptocurrencies surged Monday following a high-profile keynote by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the company's GTC developer conference, where he outlined a bold vision for the next generation of AI infrastructure.

Among the strongest performers was NEAR Protocol, an AI-integrated blockchain that climbed over 10% within 24 hours to reach its highest price since late January. The Artificial Superintelligence Alliance's FET token saw even more dramatic movement, jumping as much as 20% intraday before settling lower by session's end. Worldcoin (WLD), the identity-based crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, gained roughly 10% to trade near $0.40 — a level not seen since early March. Grass (GRASS), a decentralized platform allowing users to monetize idle internet bandwidth for AI model training, surged 13% to fresh 2026 highs.

The catalyst was Huang's keynote address, where he reinforced Nvidia's dominant position in the global AI race. He revealed the company anticipates approximately $1 trillion in chip demand backlog through 2027, with hyperscale cloud providers representing around 60% of its revenue base. Huang also spotlighted the rapid growth of agentic AI, highlighting the widely discussed OpenClaw project and Nvidia's enterprise adaptation of it — NemoClaw — built to enable autonomous AI agents to operate safely within corporate environments without compromising sensitive data.

Although Huang made no mention of cryptocurrency, the rally reflects growing conviction among blockchain developers that the next wave of autonomous AI agents will depend on crypto infrastructure for transactions and coordination. Many projects are actively building decentralized alternatives to centralized AI platforms, covering computing power, model training, and agent coordination.

Nvidia shares (NVDA) initially popped roughly 2% during the keynote before pulling back, ultimately finishing the session about 1.5% higher, reaffirming the stock's status as a key barometer of broader AI market sentiment.