• Nvidia is facing a major antitrust probe from the US Department of Justice.
• This twist has triggered a selloff in NVDA shares, which has rippled through the AI tokens Akash, FET, and RENDER.

Over the past 24 hours, AI-focused cryptocurrencies, including Akash Network (AKT), FET, and RENDER, have suffered significant losses amid Nvidia’s bearish slump. This development has raised concerns about the future of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) crypto industry.

Nvidia’s Stock Decline Sharply

Giant AI chipmaker Nvidia Corporation experienced a market downturn on Tuesday, with its stock plunging by 9.53%. NVDA fell from an opening price of $116.02 to $108. The company’s market capitalization dropped dramatically from $2.92 trillion to $2.65 trillion, a record loss of $270 billion. This is one of the largest single-day market capitalization losses ever recorded for a US company.

The drop in Nvidia’s shares comes amid an investigation from the US Department of Justice (DOJ). According to a Bloomberg report, the DOJ issued a subpoena to Nvidia regarding violations of antitrust laws. 

Antitrust officials are worried about Nvidia’s practices, which they claim make it more difficult for customers to move to other suppliers. The report also alleges that Nvidia penalizes customers who do not exclusively use its AI processors. Nvidia’s Stock decline also indicates that investors are becoming more cautious about AI technology, which has fueled much of this year’s stock market gains.

AI-focused tokens quickly plummeted sharply following the DOJ’s probe, a show of strong correlation with Nvidia. Within the past day, the price of AKT decreased by 8.7%, falling from an intraday high of $2.4 to $2.21. Similarly, the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) has decreased by 6.8% in the last 24 hours to $10.9.

Likewise, AI token Render experienced a 4.15% decline within the same timeframe to $4.76.

According to real-time data, the market cap of all AI tokens fell by over 6.9%, while the trading volume dipped to $1 billion. It is worth noting that while Nvidia’s stock is down on the daily chart, it has seen a surge of over 118% in 2024. This surge has helped boost its market cap to over $2.65 trillion and rank it as the world’s third-largest company.

Nvidia’s Influence in the AI Crypto Industry

Moreover, analysts forecast Nvidia’s revenue to reach $28.6 billion in the second quarter of this year. Nvidia’s solid revenue performance and positive forward guidance suggest a promising future for the AI crypto industry, potentially driving up prices for related assets. 

This trend has remained evident since the start of this year. Over the past months, FET and RENDER have seen gains following Nvidia’s earnings reports in February and May, as noted in our earlier report. On the contrary, results falling below estimates have now triggered market corrections.

Meanwhile, both Akash Network and Render have partnered with Nvidia, as they operate at the intersection of the blockchain and semiconductor industries. This collaboration enables the distribution of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) that offer solutions on the blockchain networks.