February 2026 was brutal for most of crypto. Price charts were red, sentiment was shaky, and traders were defensive. But beneath the surface, something very different was happening in the AI sector.
Well-known X analyst Demi-Defi shared a detailed explanation showing that while the market was bleeding, leading AI crypto projects were shipping upgrades, integrations, and institutional milestones at an aggressive pace. The takeaway was simple: price action may have struggled, but development did not slow down.
Here’s what actually happened.
TAO, LINK, and NEAR: Institutional Signals and Infrastructure Expansion
Bittensor (TAO) had a packed month. The project presented at Tsinghua University, hosted a Subnet Ideathon with $18K in prizes, and now supports over 128 live subnets. That’s network-level expansion. Exchange balances also increased by over 132,000 TAO, which could reflect positioning ahead of future volatility.
Chainlink (LINK) posted one of the most significant institutional updates. Its CCIP protocol processed $7.77 billion in annual transfer volume, a record. Live transactions involving J.P. Morgan and UBS were highlighted, alongside CME Group integration. LINK reserves also grew by 137,000 tokens, bringing the total to 2.17 million. Development-wise, it ranked #1 in AI-related dev activity.
AI Crypto Projects CRUSHED February 2026
— Dami-Defi (@DamiDefi) February 27, 2026
While the market was bleeding, AI projects were SHIPPING. Here's what actually happened:$TAO: Tsinghua University presentation, Subnet Ideathon ($18K prizes), 128+ live subnets, +132,893 TAO exchange balance increase$RENDER: Octane… pic.twitter.com/TU9YRLm6HB
NEAR pushed forward on multiple fronts. Grayscale finalized its Spot NEAR ETF S-1 filing. NEAR Intents volume surpassed $6 billion, and the protocol executed 1 million token buybacks. The Nightshade 3.0 upgrade was announced, along with 50+ blockchain integrations. That combination signals both technical and financial expansion.
These aren’t hype-driven announcements. They are infrastructure milestones.
RENDER, ICP, INJ and the Broader AI Build Cycle
Render (RENDER) completed its Solana migration and integrated Octane 2026. The network powered an A$AP Rocky music video and burned over 1 million tokens. January revenue came in at $121,000 — a tangible revenue signal in a sector often criticized for speculation over substance.
Internet Computer (ICP) secured a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan government for sovereign cloud initiatives. Over 2.5 million ICP tokens have been burned year-to-date, and GitHub activity ranked it as the most active project by commits. It also crossed 3 million Internet Identities.
Injective (INJ) passed IIP-617, doubling its deflation rate, and implemented IIP-619 on mainnet. More than 68,000 INJ were burned in its largest buyback to date. Total transactions surpassed 2.8 billion.
Meanwhile, Fetch.ai (FET) expanded its ASI:One capabilities with 20+ added features, surpassed 2.5 million agents on Agentverse, and launched FetchCoder V2. WhatsApp integration and 35 million cumulative transactions show consistent usage growth.
Even smaller names like Virtual (VIRTUAL) and The Graph (GRT) continued shipping. VIRTUAL rolled out OpenClaw ACP integration and $1M monthly revenue incentives. GRT advanced its modular backbone evolution and zero-knowledge integration while preparing Horizon mainnet.
Historically, strong development cycles during bearish conditions tend to separate durable projects from narrative-only tokens. Markets may not reward shipping immediately, but infrastructure expansion compounds over time.
February proved one thing clearly: AI crypto did not stall.
It built.
Read also: ChatGPT Predicts the Price of XRP and Solana If the Clarity Act Passes
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