The merger of decentralized AI companies Fetch.ai (FET), SingularityNet (Agix) and Ocean Protocol (Ocean) has been delayed by one month to July 15 due to logistical and technical issues, the firms announced on Tuesday. The entities originally planned to finalize the tie-up into what they are calling the “Artificial Superintelligence Alliance” on June 13.
Also read: Crypto AI Alliance: 3 decentralized platforms set to merge
The merger was first announced in March and passed a community vote in early April. It will lead to the creation of a new token called ‘Artificial Superintelligence,’ or ASI. All three tokens – FET, Agix, and Ocean, will combine to form ASI. The token renaming was initially slated for June 11 followed by the merger two days later.
FET, Agix and Ocean tokens fall
In a blog post , the Alliance said the delay is necessary to “ensure that the token merger is carried out with accuracy and efficiency.” It stated that exchanges, validators and the wider ecosystem needed more time to sort out their “logistical requirements and technical dependencies”. The Alliance said:
“The preparation phase for the token merger involves managing complex integrations, careful coordination, and attention to numerous moving parts.”
Fetch.ai CEO Humayun Sheikh said the delay is “temporary”, adding, “Our teams are actively working with centralized exchanges to finalize the remaining steps.”
While the merger remains outstanding, holders of FET, Agix and Ocean can continue to trade their tokens on crypto exchanges separately, said the Alliance. The trades will cease with the completion of the merger next month, when they will be folded into ASI.
Meanwhile, the trio of AI tokens have seen significant price dips after the news. Fetch.ai’s token dropped 6.8% to $1.55, and Agix , the native token of the SingularityNet ecosystem, lost 5.7% to $0.67 30% while Ocean Protocol’s Ocean token fell 5% to $0.68.
Alliance aims to end Big Tech dominance
The Artificial Superintelligence Alliance is looking to merge Fetch’s open network for AI agents, Ocean Protocol’s data sharing and monetization, and SingularityNET’s decentralized marketplace.
According to the Alliance, the idea is to end the dominance of Big Tech like Google, Meta, and OpenAI , by providing a decentralized alternative to how artificial intelligence is developed, used, and monetized.
Also read: Fetch AI allocates $100M to expand compute infrastructure
Under the terms of the merger, the FET token will function as the base currency of the Alliance. A total of 2.631 billion ASI tokens will be distributed, replacing the existing FET, Agix, and Ocean tokens. All the tokens could be converted into ASI at fixed exchange rates. FET can be swapped one-to-one into ASI. For example, if you hold 100 FET tokens, you will be able to swap them for 100 ASI.
Additional ASI tokens will be minted to allocate 867 million to Agix holders and 611 million to Ocean tokenholders at a fixed rate. People holding Agix and Ocean on crypto exchanges do not need to take any action because exchanges will automatically make the conversion to ASI on their behalf, the Alliance says.
Cryptopolitan Reporting by Jeffrey Gogo
