Binance AI Investment Landscape Overview: Who Will Be the Next Alpha Leader?

Written by: Tyler Web3

Who will be the next leader in the AI & Web3 narrative?

As the main storyline closely tied to the pulse of global technology in 2024, the AI & Web3 track experienced a brief market surge after the launch of the leading project Bittensor (TAO) on Binance in April, with related tokens seeing a general rise, but unfortunately failing to sustain the momentum. However, beneath the surface, Binance's bet on AI has clearly accelerated:

Since the beginning of this year, whether it’s Aggregata being selected for the latest MVB Accelerator program, or Binance Labs announcing significant investments in Sahara AI, Myshell, as well as Sleepless AI, io.net, and others, Binance's various investment arms have been actively engaging in the AI & Web3 field, significantly increasing their pace.

The subtle signs point to a larger trend. Binance's intensified layout in the AI track is undoubtedly stirring the waters, likely giving rise to a batch of new Alpha projects with impressive growth and scale, taking up the banner from TAO.

In this context, who will become the catalyst for the new round of "AI & Web3" market trends, and which project will become the new hotspot for Binance's capital and ecological resources?

Binance's AI Layout Strategy and Investment Arms

First, we need to understand how Binance views the AI & Web3 narrative.

In a recent interview, Binance co-founder He Yi publicly shared his views on the development of AI and its integration with blockchain technology, stating that "AI technology is triggering a productivity revolution, its impact far exceeds our imagination. While blockchain technology mainly changes labor relations and profit distribution models, AI is a revolutionary technology that directly enhances user productivity."

In terms of specific investment strategies, He Yi categorized them into several key modules—on the application level, the most common products are similar to OpenAI chatbots, which can assist in writing, designing, producing videos, and other diverse tasks; behind them are large language model (LLM) development teams; further upstream are computing power providers, with NVIDIA's dominant position in this field making it hard for other competitors to catch up.

In short, Binance's attention to the AI & Web3 track spans almost all product dimensions. As long as it can provide quality products and services, it has the potential to become a successful business model and is included in potential investments.

If we want to peel back the layers and explore the projects that Binance has already laid out in the AI narrative, where should we start? In fact, by grasping three main lines, we can get a hold of any popular narrative that Binance is laying out.

Indeed, Binance is mainly completing the full lifecycle (early incubation, investment support, and trading launch) of AI and other track projects through three "investment arms" based on the project's development stage—Incubator Model (MVB, Binance Labs Incubation Program), Binance Labs, and Exchange Listed Tokens:

• The incubator model, including MVB and the Binance Labs incubation program, covers a large number of startup teams through a selection process similar to YC, casting a wide net to discover early potential projects, providing multi-dimensional support covering market strategy and user growth, and after final selection, investing in some projects with relatively small amounts to help complete the incubation from 0 to 1;
• Binance Labs, as Binance's venture capital and incubation department, is dedicated to high-quality projects across various tracks and fields in Web3, with investment targets having more mature product architecture, business models, and teams, and larger investment amounts, aiming to provide in-depth resource integration to promote rapid growth and leading positions in market competition;
• Exchange listed tokens are important market goals for mature crypto projects, which can help them gain massive exposure and directly reach the largest user and capital pools;

Through these three "investment arms," Binance has almost encompassed the staggered layout of different projects' full lifecycle in the AI track (early incubation, investment support, and trading launch), thereby promoting the development of different stages of AI projects from various dimensions and sharing the overall growth dividends of the AI track.

A Comprehensive Overview of Binance's AI Layout

Based on these three "investment arms," what projects are currently included in Binance's AI landscape? (Note: Given the ongoing trend of AI and Web3 integration, the AI projects listed below do not involve other track projects that combine AI technology, focusing mainly on native AI projects with core elements of artificial intelligence (data processing, model algorithms, computing power training, etc.) and practical application scenarios.)

1. Incubator Model (Selected and Invested)

It is important to note that, as mentioned above, the general process of Binance's incubator model (MVB, Binance Labs Incubation Program) includes selection through open calls—selection—incubation camp—observation—selective investment. Therefore, AI projects related to the incubator model can often be divided into two categories: those that are only selected for the incubator and those that are selected for the incubator and further receive investment. Here, we mainly focus on projects that have been selected and received investment:

• Privasea (formerly Nulink): A decentralized artificial intelligence network that enables the circulation of data value through FHEML, providing distributed computing resources for FHE AI operations. Selected for Binance Labs' fourth quarter incubation program in May 2022, announced completion of $5 million seed round financing in March 2024, with participation from Binance Labs, etc.;
• DIN (Web3Go): A modular AI native data preprocessing layer, DIN (Web3Go) was selected for the MVB Accelerator program in 2023 and completed a $4 million seed round financing led by Binance Labs in July;
• Sleepless AI: A virtual companion game based on AI blockchain, utilizing AIGC and LLM to create rich story-based gameplay and interact organically with characters. In April 2023, Sleepless AI was officially selected for the 6th season MVB Accelerator program, and in August 2023, further received investment from Binance Labs through the 6th season MVB Accelerator program;
• QnA3.AI: An AI-driven Web3 knowledge-sharing platform, selected for Binance Labs' sixth season incubation program in September 2023, and further received investment from Binance Labs in March 2024, currently with an FDV of $77 million;
• NFPrompt (NFP): An AI-based Web3 content creation platform that allows users to create, own, and profit from digital art and NFTs through various AI tools and interfaces. Selected for Binance Labs' sixth season incubation program in September 2023, and further received investment from Binance Labs in March 2024;
• MyShell: A decentralized AI ecosystem that allows everyone to build, own, and share AI applications. In September 2023, MyShell was selected for the sixth season Incubation Program, and in August 2024, Binance Labs announced investment in MyShell through the sixth season incubation program;
• Aggregata: An AI-based decentralized data marketplace that aggregates high-quality data in the AI field and decentralized storage systems, allowing users to fully control their AI element ownership. In March 2024, Aggregata was officially selected for the 7th season MVB Accelerator program, and in August 2024, further received investment from Binance Labs through the 7th season MVB Accelerator program;

2. Binance Labs (Direct Investment)

Unlike projects that are selected for the incubator and further receive Binance Labs incubation investment, projects receiving direct investment from Binance Labs have larger investment amounts, higher valuations, and are overall more mature Web3 projects in terms of product architecture, business models, and teams.

• Arkham: An AI-driven blockchain intelligence and data platform that provides detailed information and visualization tools for on-chain activities. Launched on Binance in July 2023, and in November 2023, Binance Labs announced investment in Arkham's native token ARKM;
• Sahara AI: The first to propose the concept of "AI assets," dedicated to building a blockchain-based AI platform that provides users and developers with secure control and "copyright" protection over their AI assets, ensuring that all participants' contributions receive fair attribution and rewards. In August 2024, Sahara AI announced the completion of $43 million in financing, led by Binance Labs, Polychain, and others;

3. Exchange Listed Tokens

• Fetch.ai (FET): A blockchain-based machine learning platform aimed at integrating traditional products with AI through the Fetch.ai token without changing the underlying business applications. Launched on Binance in February 2019, currently with an FDV of $2.8 billion;
• NFPrompt (NFP): After being selected for the 6th season Binance Labs incubation program and receiving investment from Binance Labs, in December 2023, NFP was launched on Binance Launchpool, currently with an FDV of $190 million;
• Sleepless AI (AI): After being selected for the 6th season MVB Accelerator program and receiving investment from Binance Labs, in January 2024, AI was launched on Binance Launchpool, currently with an FDV of $360 million;
• Bittensor (TAO): A decentralized AI network composed of smaller, specialized subnetworks, each dedicated to different areas of AI. In April 2024, TAO was launched on Binance, currently with an FDV of $11.4 billion;
• io.net: A decentralized cloud computing platform aimed at aggregating GPU resources for AI and machine learning companies. In June 2024, IO was launched on Binance Launchpool, currently with an FDV of $1.2 billion;

Overall, Binance has primarily cast a wide net in the AI field through the incubator model (MVB, Binance Labs Incubation Program); while the direct investments from Binance Labs, which involve larger amounts and truly engage in resource integration, undoubtedly hold the greatest weight in Binance's layout, with only Sahara AI and Arkham being the projects to date.

However, it is worth noting that since ARKM has already launched on Binance, the only remaining project among Binance's direct AI investments that has not issued tokens or launched on Binance is Sahara AI.

Who is the Most "Alpha" Project in Binance's Bets?

As mentioned earlier, Binance's layout strategy in the AI & Web3 track mainly focuses on promoting the integration of AI with blockchain technology to facilitate the development of decentralized applications (DApps), favoring the use of blockchain technology to empower the underlying infrastructure for building AI ecosystems.

From this perspective, if TAO has already become the ballast Beta in the AI field, then Sahara AI, as a platform project encompassing the application layer + model algorithms mentioned by He Yi, is likely the new Alpha leader that Binance sees as capable of taking over from TAO in the second half:

Currently, the AI narrative is essentially a game for giants, lacking a truly shared AI infrastructure that allows small and medium innovators and ordinary users to co-build and share. Sahara AI is precisely targeting this differentiated direction—through its pioneering AI asset concept and proprietary infrastructure, it aims to democratize the development, deployment, and monetization of AI assets (covering AI models, datasets, agents, and other AI-related assets):

Whether professional developers, entrepreneurs, or ordinary enthusiasts, they can conveniently build or deploy personalized AI products based on Sahara AI and earn profits through contributions, development, and deployment of AI assets, co-creating a more democratic and fair AI collaborative ecosystem.

Sahara AI consists of four layers: application, transaction, data, and execution, forming the foundation of the Sahara AI collaborative economy, providing a seamless experience for developers, data providers, and users, and is expected to catalyze a "Cambrian explosion" of personalized and self-innovative AI use cases:

• Application layer: Sahara AI provides asset security vaults, decentralized AI marketplaces, no-code toolkits, and Sahara IDs, ensuring data privacy and promoting fair compensation, while further simplifying the process for all users to create and deploy AI;
• Transaction layer: Driven by the Sahara blockchain, it handles all transactions related to AI assets, ensuring that every operation can be securely recorded, attributed, and verified, with Sahara AI's native precompiled functions designed specifically to optimize AI processing, enabling efficient computation directly in the blockchain environment to enhance system performance;
• Data layer: Unified management of on-chain data (key AI asset metadata, ownership, commitments, and proofs) and off-chain data (important datasets, AI models, and supplementary information), focusing on irreversible operations and records to ensure the system's credibility and transparency, while ensuring data integrity and security through encryption technology;
• Execution layer: As the off-chain AI infrastructure of the Sahara AI platform, it interacts seamlessly with the transaction and data layers, executing and managing protocols related to AI computation and functions, securely extracting data from the data layer, and dynamically allocating computing resources for optimal performance;

In summary, Sahara AI is expected to develop into an AI platform infrastructure open to all users, thereby gathering the largest user base, whether professional developers, entrepreneurs, or ordinary enthusiasts, who can conveniently build or deploy personalized AI products based on Sahara.

On this basis, Sahara AI can activate the broadest user, capital, and market attention dividends in the AI track, bringing new vitality and possibilities to the entire AI sector.

This may also be why top investment institutions like Binance, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, and AI industry giants like Together AI, Midjourney, and Anthropic are willing to support it—a platform that can truly achieve co-construction and sharing, attracting a large number of users and capital undoubtedly has immense appeal.

Conclusion

Looking back, Binance's current layout in the AI track is comprehensive and in-depth, almost replicating He Yi's initial insights and judgments about the AI industry, indeed pushing Binance's development in this track around the enormous potential of AI in the future financial sector and even the entire society:

From early project incubation to mid-term strategic investments, and finally to promoting listings, it covers the full lifecycle of AI projects from incubation to investment to listing, constructing a complete AI ecosystem with a multi-layered support strategy.

The valuation ceiling of narrative leaders often has a benchmarking effect on the entire track. Theoretically, if Binance and other top venture capital institutions are to ignite the entire AI track and project layout, they undoubtedly need a spark that can ignite market sentiment.

While we still do not know who this new leader will be or when it will arrive, it at least needs to have sufficient imaginative space and valuation ceiling. Therefore, with the backing of top institutions like Binance and a differentiated infrastructure positioning, Sahara AI has already shown signs of taking over from Bittensor (TAO) to some extent.

Some early subtle signs are undoubtedly going to gradually emerge in the coming days; let us wait and see.