AiFi Summit 2025's first stop in Denver concludes successfully, a full review of the highlights

The AiFi Summit 2025 in Denver, hosted by GAIB, PIN AI, and KITE AI, successfully concluded on February 28.

The event attracted over 1,400 industry users who eagerly registered, receiving strong support from more than 40 leading projects, including renowned companies such as Google Cloud, BNB Chain, Chainlink, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Near, Base, Aethir, Plume, CARV, Sahara, io.net, 0G, Story Protocol, Sentient, Mind Network, OpenLedger, Flock.io, Hyperbolic, Exabits, Olas, Unifai Network, Impossible Cloud Network, Satlayer, AixBlock, Akave, Ormi, Hetu Protocol, w3.io, and Peri Labs. Additionally, several top investment institutions, including Hack VC, Faction, Hashed, Animoca Brands, Spartan, CMCC Global, Archetype, IOSG Ventures, L2IV, Big Brain, and MH Ventures, also attended to discuss the future trends and technological innovations of AiFi.

The event consisted of four segments: six keynote speeches, five roundtable discussions, open exchanges, and a final VIP dinner. The roundtable discussions at the AiFi Summit covered various hot topics related to AI and blockchain technology, from financing and revenue distribution in the AI economy to the future of agency networks, collaboration and openness in AI blockchain innovation, and how to shape the next Web3 super cycle, culminating in how to unleash the full potential of decentralized AI. Attendees shared their insights, bringing numerous exciting perspectives to the industry.

The event kicked off with an opening speech by Rich Widmann, Google's Web3 lead, who shared cutting-edge insights at the intersection of AI and blockchain. Following that, Mathilda, the strategic lead at GAIB, presented the highly anticipated first chapter of the "AiFi Thesis," marking its first public debut.

The "AiFi Thesis" is the world's first comprehensive industry research report analyzing AiFi (AI + DeFi), co-authored by GAIB and Peri Labs, spanning 169 pages and covering the following core topics:

• What is AiFi?
• Big Ideas in AiFi
• Current State of the Market

The release of the "AiFi Thesis" provides practitioners with a panoramic reference framework. More content can be explored through the full text link.

Additionally, Ben Wu, co-founder of PIN AI, Scott Shi, CTO of Kite AI, and Ambero, CTO of CARV, also delivered highly inspiring presentations, injecting new thoughts and momentum into industry development.

Here are the highlights from each roundtable discussion:

Roundtable Discussion 1: AiFi: Unleashing a Trillion-Dollar AI Economy

Moderator: Will Leas - Faction, Trading Partner
Guests:

• Mathilda (GAIB, Strategic Lead) pointed out that the current AI economy faces two core issues: difficulty in financing and uneven revenue distribution. Cloud service providers and data centers face high costs in GPU financing, while ordinary investors have almost no way to share in the dividends of AI economic growth other than buying Nvidia stocks. AiFi provides a new solution for GPU financing and investor participation through tokenization and decentralized financial mechanisms.
• Mark Rydon (Aethir, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder) emphasized that high-end GPUs (like H200) are currently monopolized by large tech companies in AI model training. AiFi aims to democratize AI by decentralizing access to AI computing resources, promoting AI democratization.
• Mark Fidelman (Exhibits, Chief Marketing Officer) mentioned that the AI and computing sectors may require $6 trillion in investment in the future, presenting a huge opportunity for investors and the industry. AiFi not only addresses funding bottlenecks but also creates more revenue possibilities through innovative financial tools.
• Kai (ImpossibleCloudNetwork, Founder) stated that AiFi's core potential lies in combining Web3 technology with AI, enhancing transparency and efficiency through blockchain, allowing global participants to fairly share in the AI economic dividends and facilitating rapid industry growth.

Roundtable Discussion 2: The Rise of Agency Networks: The Future of AI, Blockchain, and Autonomous Systems

Moderator: Naman - BigBrain Holding
Guests:

• Ben Wu (PIN AI, Co-founder) emphasized the importance of personal AI, stating that by building personal AIs, users can better manage their data, while third-party developers can access this data through a bidding mechanism, thus promoting the prosperity of the personal AI ecosystem.
• Ming Wu (0G, Chief Technology Officer) predicted that AI will become more widespread in the future, with AI agents capable of performing more complex tasks. He also noted that real-world assets (RWA) will become the next hotspot in Web3, with AI agents playing a key role in this trend.
• Ram (OpenLedger, Core Contributor) mentioned that AI can significantly enhance the functionality of DeFi, especially in automated trading. Through AI agents, DeFi users can manage assets and mitigate risks more efficiently.
• Lukas Bruell (Nillion Network, Core Team Member) emphasized that data privacy is one of the core issues for industry development, and as AI and blockchain converge, privacy protection will become increasingly important.
• David Minarsch (Olas, Founding Member) stated that the application scenarios for AI agents are rapidly expanding and will cover more fields in the future. With technological advancements, AI agents will become an indispensable part of people's daily lives.

Roundtable Discussion 3: AI Blockchain Innovation: A Collaborative and Open AI Ecosystem

Moderator: Jun - Hashed, Investor
Guests:

• Scott Shi (Kite AI, Chief Technology Officer) pointed out that many companies choose to ignore data license restrictions to reduce costs, but this behavior not only increases the training costs of AI models but also affects the stability of the models.
• Himanshu Tyagi (Sentient, Co-founder) emphasized that maintaining the open-source nature and transparency of AI is key to driving industry development. Only through decentralized means can the fairness and sustainability of technology be ensured.
• Jialin (Hetu, Co-founder) introduced Hetu's decentralized infrastructure, aimed at building robust AI models through community collaboration, breaking the monopoly of large tech companies on AI resources.
• Stefaan Vervaet (Akave, CEO and Co-founder) shared Akave's unified data layer, which brings off-chain datasets on-chain, allowing data providers to manage and control their data through "data wallets."
• Victor Fei (Ormi Labs, CEO and Founder) pointed out that while AI's computing resources are important, large-scale access to on-chain and off-chain data is equally critical; only by integrating these resources can AI reach its maximum potential.
• Audie Sheridan (w3.io, Founder) mentioned that the "black box" problem of AI complicates data communication and sharing. Future technological solutions are needed to address these issues to ensure the transparency and reliability of AI systems.

Roundtable Discussion 4: The Road Ahead: How AiFi and DeFAI Shape the Next Web3 Super Cycle

Moderator: Jimmy - Chainlink, Community Lead
Guests:

• Sarah S. (BNB Chain, Head of Business Development) stated that AiFi's basic functions are already in place but have not yet achieved scalability. More efforts are needed in security, community education, and adoption rates, predicting that the integration of AI and real-world assets (RWA) will become an important trend next year.
• Matthew Schmenk (Avalanche, Senior Growth Assistant) mentioned that intelligent AI agents have the potential to democratize institutional-level strategies, enabling ordinary users to access professional financial tools and insights.
• Mark Mi (Near, Head of Product Development) emphasized that the key to AI agents lies in seamless integration, making them part of people's daily lives and truly effective.
• Chase Allred (Arbitrum, Partner Manager) pointed out that the integration potential of AI and DeFi is enormous, but to achieve mature applications, infrastructure and technical challenges must be overcome.

Roundtable Discussion 5: Connecting AI and Blockchain: Unleashing the Full Potential of Decentralized AI

Moderator: Danny Sursock - Archetype, Partner
Guests:

• Dan Park (Hashed, Investor) reflected on early AI projects in 2022, noting that it was difficult to find truly impactful use cases at that time. However, more and more AI projects today are demonstrating practical application scenarios, marking significant progress in the industry.
• Chris Yin (Plume, CEO) mentioned that many early AI projects had limited use cases. To make AiFi truly valuable, it is essential to make cryptographic technology more practical and widespread.
• Matt Burke (Flock.io, Head of Growth) emphasized that crypto and AI provide new opportunities for individual programmers, allowing them to drive decentralized and independent ecosystem development without relying on traditional companies.
• Luke Xie (Satlayer, CEO and Co-founder) pointed out that AI technology lowers the coding barrier, enabling individuals without a strong technical background to build innovative projects through AI, as AI can now automatically handle most complexities.
• Dan Park (Hashed, Investor) added that the incentive system for distributed AI is currently inadequate. Only a few individuals have made significant positive contributions across the entire AI value chain, but these contributions are often not reflected in incentives, leading to unfair distribution. Furthermore, community-owned models must remain secure and controllable, returning ownership of parameters to the community for research rather than providing a "black box" like centralized companies. Especially for models involving sensitive scenarios like emotional companionship, governance must occur in a more open environment.

Looking ahead, AiFi will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping the next Web3 super cycle. Through continuous technological innovation and community collaboration, we have reason to believe that AiFi will unleash tremendous economic value, promote AI democratization, and provide global users with fairer, more transparent, and efficient financial services.

Thanks to all participants, supporters, and partners for their enthusiastic participation and contributions. Let us look forward to the next stop of the AiFi Summit, continuing to explore and advance this exciting field.