Artificial intelligence-focused cryptocurrencies led a market rally on Monday. Altcoins outperformed Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

They were the top performers in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The index, a broad market benchmark, rose 1.5% during the same period. And the AI tokens were surging all the way.

Near and Render, two AI-related tokens, posted gains of 18-20% over 24 hours.

Bittensor, a decentralized machine learning protocol, saw its token climb 17%. Livepeer also made significant gains. Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, called it an "under the radar crypto AI play" on social media.

Celestia, a blockchain data availability project, saw its token rise 12%. This followed news of a $100 million investment in its ecosystem development organization.

The investment was led by Bain Capital Crypto. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris reportedly expressed support for innovative technologies at a fundraiser event.

She mentioned AI and digital assets specifically. This may have contributed to positive sentiment in the crypto market.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin struggled to reclaim the key 200-day moving average. It hovered just below $64,000, up less than 1%. Ethereum showed relative strength, it posted a 3.5% return over the same period.

Traditional markets also showed strength. Gold hit new record prices, while stocks continued to rise following the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut - the Fed lowered rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee suggested more cuts may follow. "Over the next 12 months, we have a long way to come down to get the interest rate to something like neutral," Goolsbee said. The Fed's projections indicate a neutral rate close to 3%. This turn of events may lead to a further strengthening of the market.