Grayscale Names Top 20 Promising AI Tokens
The capital management company Grayscale suggested that cryptocurrencies could become one of the tools for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The analytical department of Grayscale Research also published the top 20 AI tokens, which, in their opinion, form a new sector in the crypto market with huge growth potential. This is reported by RBC Crypto.
AI technologies used in blockchain allow classifying such projects as a separate sector in the crypto economy, experts believe. Now Grayscale Research has divided the blockchain market into the following categories, adding AI as a separate item:
Currencies: Assets that are used as a decentralized payment system and store of value (e.g. Bitcoin and XRP).
Smart contract platforms: Blockchain networks that provide the underlying infrastructure for decentralized applications in the form of smart contracts (e.g. Ethereum and Solana)
Finance: Financial applications that allow users to borrow, lend, and trade on the blockchain (e.g. Uniswap and Aave).
Consumption and culture. Decentralized media applications, gaming and entertainment projects (e.g. Decentraland or Sandbox).
Artificial Intelligence. Assets related to the development, production or application of artificial intelligence technologies (e.g. Bittensor, Near and Grass).
Infrastructure: Services that extend the functionality of existing decentralized applications (e.g. Chainlink, Filecoin, and Lido).
Grayscale Research believes that AI built on the principles of decentralization can complement centralized AI technologies. Moreover, over the past year, these applications have become the most discussed topic in the crypto market, and many new tokens have reached a sufficient threshold in market capitalization and liquidity to be included in the crypto sector. Below is a list of the top 20 tokens, according to experts.
Grayscale Research's Top 20 AI Tokens
“This sector includes 20 assets with a combined market cap of about $20 billion. At this size, the AI and crypto sector is the smallest segment of the market, representing about 0.67% of the total market cap. By comparison, finance, the third-largest sector, has a market cap of about $519 billion. In our view, the relatively modest size of this crypto sector reflects the early stage of many projects. The market for blockchain-based AI applications is potentially very large. And we believe that the AI sector in crypto will grow both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the market,” the report noted.
There are no general classifications and approved categories of projects in the crypto market. Each individual company or service has its own views on crypto projects. Grayscale has compiled lists based on its personal metrics and preferences. Grayscale is one of the largest asset managers in the cryptocurrency space. Since 2013, the company has been launching funds that allow accredited investors to gain access to digital assets through traditional financial instruments. Grayscale was founded by Barry Silbert and is part of the Digital Currency Group. It manages dozens of products based on popular crypto assets, including the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), both of which were converted into spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2024. In its reports, Grayscale often mentions the tokens included in its exchange-traded funds.
Prospects of AI
Talk of AI optimizing business and other areas has been a hot topic in various communities for years now. According to forecasts, experts expect deeper synergies between the cryptocurrency and AI markets.
In late 2024, Coinbase Ventures analyst Jonathan King suggested that AI could be built on blockchain technology, where multiple individual AIs would interact in a shared space, stimulating economic activity and growth. Experts from the traditional finance sector are also paying attention to this direction – for example, analysts from the management company Franklin Templeton noted that “the maturation of this emerging sector is worth watching.”
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said that “one-person companies” powered by artificial intelligence will become the norm, Decrypt cites.
“I think you're going to have more one-person companies. Imagine them being tokenized, trading on blockchains like other assets. So you can essentially invest in a person or the economic activity of a project that's run by one person,” Tenev said.
However, venture capital does not consider the blockchain-AI synergy to be the most promising investment. As of March 2025, since the beginning of January, venture capital funding in the US amounted to about $822 million for 167 projects. And only one of them assumes that the project will develop AI technologies. The global figure for investments in AI-crypto projects without reference to jurisdiction was 55 projects.
Источник: cryptocurrency.tech
