AI Cryptos Soar Amid Broader Market Sell-Off

Amidst the broader crypto market sell-off in 2026, AI cryptos have been a notable exception, soaring as much as 850% this year.

Investors are enthusiastic about all things AI-related, driving the value of Anthropic and OpenAI to be two of the most highly anticipated IPOs ever.

The question on everyone's mind is whether these AI cryptos can maintain their momentum over the long term, or if they will follow in the footsteps of past AI crypto failures like Fetch and Virtuals Protocol.

Some top contenders in the AI crypto space include Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) and NEAR Protocol (CRYPTO: NEAR), both with market caps over $2 billion and serving as Layer-1 blockchain networks for everything being built in AI.