Nasdaq-listed OceanPal Inc. raised $120 million via a non-public funding in public fairness deal to launch SovereignAI, a subsidiary centered on commercializing the Close to Protocol and growing AI infrastructure.
In accordance to a Tuesday announcement, SovereignAI will implement a crypto treasury technique, with plans to purchase up to 10% of the Close to (NEAR) token provide. The transfer, developed in partnership with the Close to Basis, makes OceanPal a public automobile for publicity to the crypto protocol’s native token.
OceapPal stated the partnership with the Close to Basis relies on a shared imaginative and prescient of “common AI sovereignty.”
Launched in 2020, Close to is a layer-1 blockchain supporting AI purposes, permitting AI brokers to work together, handle belongings and function securely throughout networks, according to the mission’s web site.
The announcement coincides with a management shift at OceanPal, which appointed former State Avenue government Sal Ternullo as co-CEO and David Schwed, beforehand with BNY Mellon, Galaxy and Robinhood, as chief working officer.
In the meantime, Close to Basis co-founder and CEO Illia Polosukhin will be part of the SovereignAI advisory board alongside Richard Muirhead of Material Ventures and Lukasz Kaiser of OpenAI, amongst others.
Associated: OpenAI restructures as public benefit corporation, Microsoft secures 27% stake
The rise of AI brokers in crypto
AI brokers — autonomous systems that can perceive, determine and act with out human enter — are more and more merging with crypto, utilizing blockchain networks to handle belongings, confirm actions and function as self-governing financial contributors.
In September, John D’Agostino, the top of institutional technique at Coinbase, told CNBC’s Squawk Field that cryptocurrency is needed for AI agents to function successfully in monetary markets.
The identical month, Cloudflare, a worldwide cloud infrastructure firm, introduced plans to launch a new stablecoin called NET Dollar to help on the spot transactions triggered by AI brokers.
Latest data from Dune Analytics revealed that Coinbase’s AI-ready funds protocol, launched in Could to let autonomous agents send and receive stablecoins on-line, had seen transaction exercise surge over 10,000% up to now month.
These numbers got here after two Coinbase builders stated in August that AI brokers are “about to turn out to be Ethereum’s biggest power users.”
Journal: You should ‘go and build’ your own AI agent: Jesse Pollak, X Hall of Flame
Cointelegraph by Nate Kostar OceanPal raises $120M to launch NEAR-focused digital asset treasury cointelegraph.com 2025-10-28 21:50:48
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