A coalition with Nvidia, for instance, might have provided tremendous AI development credits that could fuel growth within the Arbitrum ecosystem. As a leading Ethereum scaling solution, it was set to gain enormous exposure as part of this collaboration. Being a partner in the Ignition program, also sponsored by Nvidia, could have provided exceptional advantages for the Arbitrum ecosystem. These resources, ranging from invaluable mentorship to AI-provided support from within Nvidia’s vast network, could have greatly accelerated adoption and further development of a multitude of AI projects built on Arbitrum.
The Power Behind the Withdrawal.
The collaboration fell through, however, just days prior to what was expected to be a major public announcement. As per the statement released by the Arbitrum Foundation, the reason was that Nvidia made a demand to have its name completely detached from all public-facing announcements associated with cryptocurrency in any form. This condition was an unmistakable indicator of the continued unwillingness of Nvidia to publicly embrace the overarching blockchain narrative.
In dealing with this demand, the Arbitrum Foundation made a decision. Instead of proceeding with the partnership and attempting to navigate Nvidia’s condition in which silence was preferred—withdrawing public recognition of Nvidia’s branding—Arbitrum decided to completely withdraw from the program. The Foundation was clear in explaining its position, stating, “Arbitrum’s not removed,” to which they further explained, “The team continued to disengage after Nvidia’s request to remove branding from crypto-related announcements, which showed a lack of long-term commitment.” This demonstrates that the choice was fully in Arbitrum’s hands based on the assumption of what might arise from Nvidia’s conditions.
Nvidia’s Historical Stance on Crypto
This is not the first time this has occurred, which relates to Nvidia’s known logic of staying away from all things crypto. Even with strong relationships forming between the applications of artificial intelligence and imaginative industries with blockchain, Nvidia has always kept a clear distance from crypto.
This position has been held for quite some time, including comments made by CEO Jensen Huang regarding a “crypto hangover” impacting GPU sales back in 2018. Further illustrating this intentional divide, the company was fined 5.5 million dollars associated with reporting sales of graphics processing units bought for purposes of crypto mining instead of for gaming.
Even now, Nvidia’s official accelerator programs, such as Ignition and the Inception program, are said to contain explicit bans on the participation of crypto startups. These policies effectively block innovators trying to develop AI-enabled solutions built around blockchain technology from mainstream advocacy frameworks. However, AI-native startups devoid of direct affiliations to crypto assets seem to be disproportionately favored.
The Plight of ARB Holders
In light of all the changes, the ARB token holders consider the implications of the Arbitrum Foundation decision. The strategic issue for many revolves around whether relinquishing the partnership with Nvidia meant losing critical infrastructure and networking benefits in hindsight. Investors are pondering if the decision to defend and protect Arbitrum’s brand image, even at the expense of Nvidia, will serve them well in the future.
Most crucial for Arbitrum, now that it inhabits the crossroads of AI and crypto, is how the strategically pivotal decisions influence the evolution and reception in the market. The market response, so, has been positive to an extent, but analysts are eager to see the post-April impacts on ARB’s market value after the entire scope of this development sinks in.
ARB Token Price Analysis Post Announcement
With the markets on Sunday reacting to the news of the dissolved cooperation, Arbitrum’s native crypto asset ARB was seen trading at about $0.34. This was marking a -2.44% change in the last 24-hour period, undershooting the expected price delta during the news hype.
Even without Nvidia’s take on the crypto project’s fundamentals, the bearish pull would not come as a surprise. A trade-off bound by psychological levels appears difficult given current price action. During this ‘calm before the storm’ phase, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) also shifted from high ground to minor bearish divergence, sitting at 58. Considering the highlighted benchmark and the market sentiment post the cancelled partnership, it is rather safe to assume the ARB price will struggle around these values during the weekend and come Monday move towards a destiny of dampened expectations in the near term.
