TL;DR
- Grayscale has created a new sector focused on cryptocurrency projects related to the development of artificial intelligence, grouping together 20 altcoins with a total market capitalization of $21 billion.
- Standouts include Bittensor, Near, and Worldcoin.
- This move reflects the rapid growth of the decentralized AI ecosystem and its increasing impact on the crypto market.
Grayscale Investments, one of the world’s most influential digital asset managers, has officially launched a new crypto sector focused exclusively on artificial intelligence. This category joins their existing crypto sector framework, which already includes Currencies, Smart Contract Platforms, Finance, Consumer & Culture, and Services. The new sector brings together 20 tokens whose primary function revolves around the development and use of artificial intelligence.
Among the projects included are Bittensor (TAO), Near Protocol (NEAR), Render (RNDR), and Worldcoin (WLD). According to Grayscale, these assets are divided into three subcategories: AI platforms, tools and infrastructure, and applications with AI agents. What’s striking is that although this new sector represents only 0.67% of the global crypto market, it has grown more than fourfold since early 2023, when it was valued at just $4.5 billion.
AI Tokens Are Gaining Real Ground
The sector has sparked strong interest for its potential to solve common problems in centralized systems, such as censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and lack of transparency. Blockchain enables these AI technologies to operate on open infrastructure, democratizing access and ensuring that the benefits are more fairly distributed.
The growth of projects like Grass, which generates millions in revenue by selling data to AI labs, or Virtuals, with real-world commercial applications for intelligent agents, shows that this sector is no longer just a promise. Grayscale also highlights the synergy between AI agents and stablecoins, which paves the way for micropayments and real-time programmable transactions, enabling autonomous operation of smart services.
Additionally, regulatory evolution plays a key role: laws like the proposed GENIUS stablecoin act and upcoming structural reforms could accelerate institutional adoption of these solutions. Meanwhile, the crypto community celebrates the fact that decentralized AI is finally being formally recognized as an emerging pillar of the digital ecosystem.
A Strategic Move That Redefines the Crypto Landscape
The classification of AI as an independent sector within the crypto ecosystem is comparable to how the real estate sector was once formally acknowledged in traditional stock indexes. The convergence of blockchain and artificial intelligence marks a new chapter in the evolution of the crypto market, solidifying its technological and economic relevance on a global scale.
