**NIL/USDT Analysis: Why the Mainnet & AI Narrative Pumped the Price (Feb 3-11, 2025)**
The NIL price surge visible on your chart wasn't random—it was a textbook "buy the news" rally driven by two massive catalysts hitting in perfect succession. The pump started February 3 when Nillion launched its mainnet and opened claims for a 75,000,000 NIL airdrop. This created immediate buying pressure as users rushed to qualify before the deadline extension to February 7. Your volume spikes on these dates confirm real capital entered, not bots. The MA(7) crossing above MA(25) and MA(99) at 0.0500, 0.0476, and 0.0467 respectively signals strong short-term momentum overwhelming longer-term holders.
Then came the narrative shift that sent prices higher around February 9. Nillion announced Blacklight and the ERC-8004 standard—an "Agent Verification Layer" for AI on Ethereum. This transformed NIL from just another privacy protocol into legitimate AI infrastructure. Suddenly, traders weren't buying storage; they were buying the AI agent narrative, the hottest sector rotation in crypto. Add reminders of Nillion's $45M raise from Hack VC, HashKey, and Goldman Sachs alumni, plus CoinEx pre-token bidding leaking into the timeframe at 3 USDT versus spot 0.05 USDT, and you get institutional FOMO. The pump was fundamentally backed, technically confirmed, and narratively perfect.
