The Rise of AI Layer 1: Five Major Projects Leading the New Era of Blockchain AI

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, traditional Blockchain architectures have struggled to meet the high-performance computing and complex data processing demands of AI applications. This has led to the emergence of Layer 1 Blockchain platforms specifically optimized for AI, which exhibit diverse characteristics in terms of technical architecture, application scenarios, and business models. This article provides an in-depth analysis of five leading AI Layer 1 projects: Bittensor, Vana, Kite AI, Nillion, and Sahara AI.

Bittensor: Building Decentralized AI Network Infrastructure

Bittensor is committed to building an open and decentralized artificial intelligence collaboration network, aiming to break the centralized barriers in traditional AI research and development, allowing more participants to contribute and benefit together.

Bittensor adopts a dual-layer structure design:

• Root Network (Mainnet): Responsible for the coordination, verification, and token issuance management of the entire system.
• Subnet Ecosystem: Each subnet develops specialized solutions for specific AI application scenarios.

Ecological Development Progress:

• The number of subnets has expanded to over 64, covering various AI application scenarios such as text generation, trading signals, and data labeling.
• The number of active users reached 140,000, doubling compared to the previous year.
• The total valuation of the subnet market exceeds 100 million USD, with a daily trading volume maintained at around 45 million USD.
• Institutional participation has significantly increased.

The recently completed dTAO (Dynamic TAO) system upgrade is an important innovation in the Bittensor economic model, introducing a dynamic resource allocation system based on market mechanisms. This upgrade achieves more efficient and equitable resource distribution through the subnet token (Alpha token) mechanism.

The most active subnets currently include:

• Subnet 4 Targon: Focused on AI inference services for text generation.
• Subnet 64 Chutes: Provides API interfaces for various LLMs.
• Subnet 8 PTN: Focused on the financial sector, generating trading signals.
• Subnet No. 52 Dojo: Focus on Data Annotation

Vana: Reshaping Data Sovereignty and Value Distribution

Vana focuses on solving the issue of personal data ownership and value distribution, establishing an ecosystem where users truly own and control their own data.

The technical architecture of Vana consists of five core components:

1. Data Liquidity Layer
2. Data Portable Layer
3. General Connection Group
4. Non-Custodial Data Storage
5. Application Ecosystem

Latest developments:

• Received strategic investment from YZi Labs, Binance founder CZ joins as an advisor.
• Built data projects covering multiple fields, such as Finquarium, GPT Data DAO, etc.
• Organize hackathon activities during Eth Denver to incentivize developers to build DataDAO and AI applications based on Vana data.

Kite AI: Technical Breakthrough of AI Native Blockchain

Kite AI is an AI-native Layer 1 Blockchain project built on the Avalanche framework, dedicated to addressing the challenges traditional Blockchains face when handling AI assets.

Four core technological innovations:

1. PoAI Consensus Mechanism
2. Composable AI Subnet
3. AI Native Execution Layer
4. Decentralized Data Engine

Current Development Status:

• Incentive testnet launched in February 2025, performing exceptionally well.
• The project background is strong, and team members come from top tech companies and prestigious institutions.
• Secured investments from top-tier institutions like General Catalyst and Hashed.
• Establish technical partnerships with Eigenlayer, Sui, Avalanche, AWS, etc.

Nillion: Cutting-edge Exploration of Privacy Computing

Nillion redefines the way sensitive data is processed through "blind computation" technology, opening up new avenues for digital privacy protection.

The technical architecture integrates various cutting-edge privacy protection technologies:

• Multi-Party Computation ( MPC )
• Fully Homomorphic Encryption ( FHE )
• Zero-Knowledge Proof ( ZKP )
• Nada Language

Latest development progress:

• The mainnet is scheduled to launch in March 2025.
• Completed a $25 million financing led by Hack VC.
• Establish integration relationships with multiple mainstream public chains such as NEAR Protocol, Aptos, and Arbitrum.
• Collaborate with projects like Ritual, Crush AI in the AI ecosystem.

Sahara AI: Building a New Economic Platform for AI Assets

Sahara AI aims to build a "human-AI collaboration network" that allows various participants to engage in the creation, deployment, and monetization of AI assets.

The technical architecture consists of three key components:

1. Sahara Blockchain
2. AI Infrastructure
3. Sahara AI Marketplace

Latest development progress:

• The testnet has gone through several important stages, attracting a large number of users to participate.
• The public testnet named "SIWA" will be launched on March 10, 2025.
• The roadmap for 2024-2025 has been released, including several key milestones.
• Launch an incubator program to support AI x Web3 innovation projects

AI Layer 1 is currently in a critical stage of rapid evolution, where these platforms are reconstructing the underlying architecture of AI technology to build a more open, transparent, and efficient technological ecosystem. In the future, this track will continue to drive technological innovation and advance artificial intelligence towards a more decentralized and collaborative direction.