The Agentic Future (03.31.26): Intel Validates Bittensor, Google Targets Crypto's Encryption & TAO Subnet Tokens Hit $1.5B
Google Quantum AI can break crypto encryption with 20x fewer qubits; Intel co-authors a whitepaper with Bittensor's Manifold Labs; TAO closes up 100% in March
This Crypto AI & Robotics newsletter consists of three parts:
Snippet Partner (SURF)
Crypto AI & Robotics Market Overview
Emerging Developments
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1. Crypto AI & Robotics Market Overview
Google Quantum AI Targets Crypto Encryption
Google Quantum AI published a whitepaper today showing it can break ECDSA-256 (the cryptography protecting Bitcoin, Ethereum and most blockchains) with 20x fewer resources than previously estimated. The team includes Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake and Stanford cryptographer Dan Boneh
The attack vector:
your public key is briefly revealed when you transact
A quantum computer could derive the private key in nine minutes; Bitcoin confirmation takes ten
41% success rate
6.7 million BTC (~$450B) already sits in wallets with exposed public keys:
Google used a zero-knowledge proof to verify findings without revealing the attack method. They set 2029 as the post-quantum migration deadline. BIP 360 (quantum-resistant addresses) is merged but not active
Ethereum has a path via account abstraction:
Bitcoin requires a hard fork so is the main concern here
My take: This is not imminent and will likely have a solution in production within the next 12-24 months
But the timeline compressed materially; post-quantum migration across all chains needs to accelerate.
ALPHA: The Intel/Manifold TDX whitepaper for Bittensor is timely here; confidential computing on untrusted hardware is a prerequisite for a post-quantum world:
Bittensor (TAO’s) March
TAO up 100%+ in March. The most significant move in AI tokens this year
Covenant-72B + Jensen Huang (March 19): Subnet 3 (Templar) trained a 72B parameter LLM permissionlessly across 70+ contributors on commodity hardware
Intel x Manifold Labs (March 24): Intel co-authored a formal whitepaper with Targon (SN4): “Decentralized Compute on Untrusted Hardware Using Intel TDX and Encrypted CVMs.”
Chutes Revenue (March 26): SN64 hit $22K/day; approaching $10M ARR
Subnet flows between categories indicate a movement from Agents to AI/ML:
The mining capabilities will likely pick up as it becomes more lucrative for bitcoin miners to move over some of the compute to AI initiatives like Bittensor
One notable orchestrator of thousands of machine learning engineers is CRUNCH, who has recently partnered with BTLabs to connect with an established infrastructure layer on the TAO ecosystem for its 11k AI engineers to solve complex problems:
A) DeAI Market Cap Analysis
The overall DeAI market cap has decreased to $20.8B (-1.3 / -5.8% 7D):
Sector broadly red on the week; macro-driven risk-off pulling most large caps down 5-12% over 7 days
TAO (-1.7% 7d, $304, $2.93B mcap): The month’s standout. $180 to $380+ before pulling back. March returns roughly 70%+ even after correction. Catalysts covered in depth above
NEAR (-12% 7d, $1.17, $1.5B mcap): Giving back gains post-IronClaw/NearCon. No new negative catalyst; sector rotation and profit-taking
Virtuals (-10.6% 7d, $0.63, $417M mcap): ACP and agentic commerce narrative continues to cool as attention rotated into Bittensor ecosystem
Venice (-11.2% 7d, $6.31, $284M mcap): Momentum trade unwinding. Fundamentals unchanged (25% emission cut, 17% supply locked as DIEM collateral, 2M+ users); worth paying attention to this as privacy ramps up
B) Robotics Market Cap Analysis
The robotics market cap has decreased to $654M (- $70m / -10% 7D):
Red across the board. Peaq -25.9%, IoTeX -15.7%, Auki -14.1%, Fabric -8.3%.
GEODNET Info is the only green at +1.5% as they continue their buyback program:
Axis launched on Base for browser-based robot training data generation. Humanoid robot at the White House EdTech summit:
2. AI Agent Analysis
Agentic Commerce (x402)
It’s clear that people are positioning for the agentic future, noting Bittensor Subnet 33 (Ready AI) building the indexed internet for agents this week. So where could the value accrue?
We pulled together some ideas for x402 value accrual in our latest report:
Definitive breakdown: Khala Research x402 Report
Other notable agentic news this week:
Bitrefill launched MCP for agent-ready commerce; AI agents autonomously buying gift cards and eSIMs.
MoonPay open-sourced the Open Wallet Standard for AI agent key management.
World Chain x Coinbase hackathon combining agent payments with proof of human
3. AI Agents Developments: Innovations and Market Developments
Here is what happened on crypto AI & robotics related developments this week:
That’s a wrap for issue 170 of Sammy’s Snippets. I hope you enjoyed it.
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Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered investment or financial advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
Disclosure: I hold some of the assets and have partnerships with some of the projects mentioned in this newsletter.