Cryptocurrencies in the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) agent sector soared on Tuesday, while bitcoin (BTC) stalled below Monday’s record highs as traders await the first crypto-specific actions from the Donald Trump administration.
AI16Z and AI Rig Complex’s ARC surged over 30% throughout the day, while GRIFFAIN, ZEREBRO also booked double-digit gains. Part of the rally may have to do with Tuesday afternoon’s news of President Trump preparing to announce up to $500 billion in investment in private-sector AI infrastructure, with companies such as OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank involved. Trump also on Monday rescinded Joe Biden’s 2023 executive order on AI risks to consumers, rolling back efforts to regulate the fast-growing sector.
The crypto AI agent sector gained significant mindshare among traders and grew into a multi-billion dollar asset class since October when the first AI tokens appeared. These agents, represented by a crypto token, are autonomous programs developed to perform specific tasks such as posting on social media, providing market insights, creating memecoins, or transacting on-chain to execute trades.
“Conviction was tested on ai/crypto, but after Altman gave the blessing, Trump just did the same with the AI infra build-out headline,” said Will Clemente, founder of Reflexivity Research, in an X post. “As long as BTC does not fall back below 100 [thousand dollars]think this sector is where the hot ball of money is going.”
Market awaits Trump catalysts
The broader crypto market is in a wait-and-see mode, with most large-cap tokens in the CoinDesk 20 Index showing modest gains. Bitcoin rose 3% over the past 24 hours to $106,000, slightly below Monday’s peak, boosted by MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) adding another 11,000 BTC for $1.1 billion to its treasury. The largest corporate holder of the asset now has over $49 billion worth of BTC.
Ethereum’s ether (ETH) is still teetering near its 4-year weakest price against BTC as community backlash mounts against the Ethereum Foundation, the blockchain development organization, for losing market share in value and blockchain activity to competitors.
“In light of a strong BTC rally to an absurd frothy weekend of memecoin madness and high expectations regarding Trump’s crypto policy, 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 pardon of Ross Ulbricht.”
Bitcoin’s weekend rally ran into resistance at the $110,000 level, but dips to $100,000 were quickly bought, noted Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group.
“There was speculation about selling on President Trump’s lack of mention of crypto during the inauguration,” Kruger said in an email. “Such concerns appear to be wildly overstated, especially with so much commitment from President Trump to the space in recent months, including the recent launch of his memecoins, activity at World Liberty Financial and ongoing talk of a strategic bitcoin reserve. “
“Regardless, the outlook is exceptionally bright, with Monday’s pullback well supported into the dive,” he added.
