The cryptocurrency market witnessed a strong rally in artificial intelligence (AI)-focused altcoins on June 2, even as the broader market faltered. Bitcoin slipped below $73,000 amid continued ETF outflows, and Ethereum remained under the $2,000 support level, pushing overall crypto market capitalization down over 2.6%. Against this backdrop, AI tokens surged: Humanity token (HMT) soared 27%, while Worldcoin (WORLD) and Near Protocol (NEAR) both rallied more than 10% in 24 hours. Trading volumes exploded—NEAR’s volume exceeded $1 billion, and Worldcoin and Humanity saw $834 million and $743 million, respectively—as futures open interest climbed.
The immediate catalyst was a pair of landmark developments. Anthropic filed its IPO application on Monday, just days after completing a funding round that valued the AI startup at over $900 billion, putting it on track to become the fastest company to cross $1 trillion in valuation. Meanwhile, chip giant Nvidia unveiled new AI chips for Windows, projecting a long-term market worth over $200 billion. Traders also anticipate the upcoming SpaceX IPO mid-month, which Polymarket users believe could hit a $2 trillion valuation, partly because SpaceX’s xAI division powers the Grok chatbot. These events reinforced the AI narrative, lifting tokens associated with identity verification (Worldcoin, Humanity) and infrastructure (NEAR).
Separately, an analyst disclosed that they had closed their entire NEAR position and rotated capital into Fetch.ai (FET). NEAR had doubled in price the previous month thanks to its advances in privacy and AI integration, but momentum is now slowing. The analyst argued that the market remains overly focused on AI applications while neglecting the infrastructure layer that will power them. Fetch.ai, they noted, is not merely another AI narrative token but is building an ecosystem where autonomous agents can discover, coordinate, and transact without centralized platforms. The Agent Launchpad is live, the ASI Chain is under development, and the team continues to ship product despite limited market attention. If AI agents become a meaningful part of the digital economy, this infrastructure could prove far more valuable than many expect.
Combined, the IPO hype, Nvidia’s hardware push, and the smart capital rotation from NEAR into FET underscore a growing conviction that AI’s real value in crypto lies in its plumbing—not just the buzz.
