TAO and NEAR lead the decline of over 20%, AI crypto sector faces a systemic correction

On February 6, news reports indicate that the artificial intelligence concept in the cryptocurrency market experienced a collective sell-off, with mainstream AI crypto assets such as TAO, NEAR, ICP, and RENDER generally falling more than 20%, showing that funds are rapidly withdrawing from high-valuation sectors. Data shows that Bittensor (TAO) dropped 23% in a single day, trading at approximately $164; Near Protocol declined by 25.4%; Internet Computer and Render also weakened simultaneously, and market sentiment has noticeably cooled.

In the past 24 hours, the overall market capitalization of AI cryptocurrencies shrank by over 42%, down to about $12 billion, with no signs of stabilization in the short term. The core reason for this correction stems from the traditional tech sector. Alphabet and Amazon’s latest earnings reports reveal that investments in AI infrastructure could reach as high as $500 billion by 2026, raising concerns among investors about the significantly prolonged profit cycle.

The market fears that high costs for computing power, data centers, and energy may continue to erode profit margins before revenue is fully realized. This sentiment has spread to related stock sectors, with companies strongly associated with AI such as Microsoft, AMD, and NVIDIA experiencing synchronized declines. Microsoft has fallen over 8% in the past five days, while AMD and NVIDIA have respectively retreated 18.5% and 10%. These companies are the primary sources of computing power and chips that most AI crypto projects rely on.

From a technical dependency perspective, Bittensor relies on high-performance GPU clusters to support machine learning model training; Near Protocol aims to provide high concurrency on-chain data processing capabilities for AI applications; Internet Computer is building independent cloud infrastructure to host autonomous AI agents; Render offers distributed computing power to support graphics and AI rendering tasks. The pressure from hardware and computing costs is directly impacting the valuation of related tokens.

In addition to industry-specific issues, macro risks and the crypto market liquidation wave have also intensified the sell-off. Bitcoin broke through multiple support levels, compounded by geopolitical and economic uncertainties, causing market risk appetite to shrink rapidly. Previously, Bitcoin once dropped over 18% in a single day, triggering approximately $2.6 billion in leveraged liquidations, with panic sentiment clearly rising. Under the convergence of multiple pressures, the AI crypto sector is undergoing a deep revaluation of its value.