Fetch.ai CEO seeks to soothe user concerns after Coinbase ASI merger snub

Fetch.ai (FET) founder, Humayun Sheikh, has sought to reassure users rattled by Coinbase’s decision to not support the company’s planned merger with SingularityNET (Agix) and Ocean Protocol (Ocean) into the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance. He said “all exchanges have their reasons and methods” but the tie-up will go ahead as planned.

Also read: Coinbase says it will not facilitate Ocean-Fetch AI merger

The merger of the three decentralized AI firms will lead to the creation of a new token called ‘ Artificial Superintelligence,’ or ASI. All three tokens – FET, Agix, and Ocean, will combine to form ASI. The deal will be done in phases and the first phase is due to start on July 1, the companies say.

Fetch.ai CEO says token holders should do ‘nothing’

On Wednesday, June 26, a few days before the merger process, Coinbase revealed that it would not back the tie-up. “Coinbase will not execute the migration of these assets on behalf of users,” the exchange said on X.

The U.S. cryptocurrency exchange said it will continue to allow trading of FET and Ocean tokens until further notice, and provided a plan for users to move their tokens to ASI using a self-custodial wallet.

In response, Sheikh posted on X (Twitter) that centralized exchanges such as Coinbase do not need to delist or relist the FET token, as it will remain in circulation during and after the merger. The Fetch.ai founder and CEO told existing holders of FET “to do nothing” with their tokens.

He said, “We are working hard to resolve any issues please bear with us. All exchanges have their reasons and methods but the merger is going ahead and we are seeing huge support from all.”

Under the terms of the merger, the FET token will function as the base currency of the Alliance. A total of 2.631 billion ASI tokens will be distributed, replacing the existing FET, Agix, and Ocean tokens. All the tokens could be converted into ASI at fixed exchange rates.

Also read: Merger of AI Tokens FET, Agix and Ocean pushed back to July

FET can be swapped one-to-one into ASI. For example, if you hold 100 FET tokens, you will be able to swap them for 100 ASI. Additional ASI tokens will be minted to allocate 867 million to Agix holders and 611 million to Ocean token holders at a fixed rate.

Several exchanges including Binance, Bitget and Bitfinex have signalled support for the merger. As of the time of writing, FET is down 8.6% to $1.41, Agix dropped 7.8% to $0.59 and Ocean token fell 7.4% to $0.60, according to CoinGecko.

Cryptopolitan Reporting by Jeffrey Gogo