Ritual launches AI Layer 1 and RITUAL token after $30M raise
What's the deal? The Ritual FoundationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → launched RitualDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Chain, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain built for AI, on October 26, alongside the generation of its native RITUAL token. Coinbase listed the token, which fell from a launch high of $0.08 to $0.0226 — a fully diluted valuation of about $220 million.
What's the endgame? Ritual wants AI agents to act as persistent economic actors that control their own wallets, on-chain identity, and private state. The network makes AI model access, private computation, and autonomous scheduling native to EVM applications, with 15 precompiles bringing capabilities like LLM inference and web access into the execution layer.
Who's behind it? Former Polychain Capital partners Niraj Pant and Akilesh Potti co-founded Ritual in New York in 2023. It raised roughly $25 million led by ArchetypeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → that November, with later strategic backing from Polychain bringing the total above $30 million.
Why now? The mainnet follows a public testnet live since June that processed more than 40 million transactions. Integrations with Phala NetworkDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Nous Research, LayerZero, and StargateDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → launched alongside it; the protocol was audited by ZellicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The tokenomics: RITUAL has a 10 billion initial supply with no cap. At launch, 1.8 billion tokens, or 18%, were unlocked, including a fully unlocked 50 million airdrop (0.5%) for Infernet node operators, Frenrug users, and community members. Core contributor and investor tokens carry a one-year lockup, with the full supply unlocking within four years.
What could go wrong? The token has no supply cap and targets about 5% annual issuance, partly offset by EIP-1559 fee burns. Testnet activity alone does not prove sustained demand for paid AI services, and the meaningful test is whether developers adopt Ritual's offering.
The signal: Ritual lands in a crowded crypto-AI push centred on usable compute, agent tools, and payment infrastructure. Its bet — that verifiable, autonomous AI needs its own Layer 1 — is among the most ambitious in the category, and among the least proven.
Read more: weex.com
Image credit: Ritual
