Grayscale Launches AI Crypto Sector Valued at $21 Billion

Grayscale Investments has unveiled a new sector within its crypto portfolio, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) with a market capitalization of $21 billion. This sector comprises 20 different altcoins, reflecting a 366% increase from $4.5 billion in Q1 2023 to its current valuation. The new sector addresses AI platforms, tools, and applications designed for decentralized systems, aligning with the rising trend of AI integration in blockchain technology.

The AI crypto sector includes notable tokens such as Bittensor, Near Protocol, Render, and Worldcoin. These assets are categorized into three groups: AI platforms, tools and infrastructure, and AI applications. The sector's growth highlights the increasing attention on decentralized AI, which aims to address issues of bias, censorship, and transparency in traditional systems. This addition brings the total number of crypto categories in Grayscale's framework to six, including currencies, smart contract platforms, and decentralized finance.

Grayscale's Decentralized Artificial Intelligence Fund, launched on April 21, 2025, is now available to accredited investors through private placements. The fund, managing $1.05 million with a 2.5% management fee, primarily invests in rapidly growing AI-based blockchain projects. This move underscores Grayscale's commitment to identifying and investing in emerging technologies that could reshape the digital landscape.

The AI crypto sector aims to build chatbots and other AI services, overcome AI challenges related to bot checking, and introduce infrastructure protocols using GPUs and decentralized data storage. The sector's promising future is evident in the potential for earning money from data sales to AIs and the use of AI agents in real-life applications. This initiative follows the trend of recognizing real estate in standard stock indexes and the collaboration between AI agents and stablecoins, enabling small payments in real time and creating automatic smart services.

Grayscale's strategy of moving Worldcoin and VIRTUAL into the AI sector from other categories emphasizes the influence of AI on blockchain development. The launch of the AI crypto sector indicates a belief in decentralized AI's strength to compete and handle important ethical issues. Investors can now measure the sector's progress and allocate funds based on its growth relative to other areas of crypto.