SingularityNET, SingularityDAO, and the Confusion of Singularity

On October 15, SingularityDAO, Cogito Finance, and SelfKey announced plans to merge, forming a new project called Singularity Finance (SFI)

On October 15, three Web3 projects — SingularityDAO, Cogito Finance, and SelfKey — announced plans to merge and form a new project called Singularity Finance (SFI). The merged project will reportedly focus on the tokenization of the artificial intelligence (AI) economy, aiming to create an Layer 2 network for tokenizing assets like GPUs and offering AI-driven financial tools.

However, this merger announcement left many feeling confused, as another Web3 project, SingularityNET, completed a merger earlier this year. So, why is there another merger announcement from a project with the word "Singularity" in its name?

To clarify, SingularityNET did complete a merger, but it was with other AI projects like Fetch.ai and Ocean Protocol. It is still unclear whether SingularityNET, having experienced the benefits of merging, is now encouraging its ecosystem project SingularityDAO to follow suit.

The term "Singularity" seems to be closely associated with technology, leading many projects to adopt it as part of their names. This has resulted in confusion in the crypto space, making it difficult to distinguish between the three projects: SingularityNET, SingularityDAO, and Singularity.

In reality, SingularityNET and SingularityDAO are closely linked, while Singularity is an instant payment solution for Web3 games from India, with no direct connection to SingularityNET and SingularityDAO.

To briefly introduce, SingularityNET is a decentralized AI platform and marketplace that enables developers and companies to share, create, sell, or purchase AI services. On the other hand, SingularityDAO is a key project within the SingularityNET ecosystem, focusing on the integration of decentralized finance (DeFi) and AI technology.

Founded in 2017, SingularityNET completed a $36 million initial token offering that same year. It subsequently launched its project token AGIX in 2018, which currently has a market cap of approximately $750 million.

On March 27, 2024, Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol announced the final agreement for a merger of their tokens, creating the largest open-source entity in AI research: the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance. This alliance has now been established, and in July, the original three projects began migrating their tokens FET, OCEAN, and AGIX to the new token ASI.

On October 15, the project SingularityDAO within the SingularityNET ecosystem announced its merger with Cogito Finance and SelfKey to create an AI-centered Layer 2 network, with the new merged project named Singularity Finance.

As projects within the ecosystem begin to merge, it raises curiosity about whether these mergers can truly yield a 1+1+1>3 effect. Here, we will focus on the performance of the already merged Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol.

First, looking at token performance, prior to the merger, SingularityNET's token AGIX had a market cap of approximately $1.52 billion, while Fetch.ai's token FET had a market cap of about $2.97 billion. Ocean Protocol's token OCEAN had a market cap of around $673 million. As of March 27, the total market cap of the three projects was approximately $5.163 billion. Following the merger announcement, the new token ASI (currently still coded as FET) saw its market cap reach as high as $6.3 billion. From the perspective of token market performance, it indeed achieved a 1+1+1>3 effect.

On September 11, 2024, the ASI Alliance announced the inclusion of the globally distributed computing network CUDOS as part of its members. As part of the integration, the CUDOS token (CUDOS) will merge into the ASI Alliance token (FET). On September 27, CUDOS officially began its token migration.

However, from the overall actions of ASI, the current merger is still in the token merging phase, and the four projects seem to be operating independently. According to the official website, after the token merger, there will be deployment and upgrades of the ASI network, but current progress remains pending. As of October 16, the market cap of the ASI token was approximately $3.5 billion, having dropped nearly half since the merger. The official documentation states that the merged tokens are a prerequisite for achieving greater interoperability among the three ecosystems.

Additionally, it seems that the merger has not brought true prosperity to these projects. For example, according to data from tokenterminal, as of October 15, Ocean Protocol's daily active users were only 109. From the chart, it can be seen that the project's daily active users briefly exceeded 7,000 in June, but then declined sharply. The other two projects lack