Bittensor Gains 37% as Grayscale Highlights Growing AI Crypto Momentum

September was a strong month for crypto projects tied to artificial intelligence (AI). Grayscale’s Artificial Intelligence Crypto Sector returned 54% during the month, more than double the broader crypto market’s 24% gain.

NEAR’s $NEAR led with a 183% increase, followed by Venice’s $VVV at 70%, World’s $WLD at 47%, and Bittensor’s $TAO at 37%.

Bittensor stood out because its network already spans several parts of the AI stack. Its subnets cover areas such as inference, compute, data, agents, and model development. That gives TAO exposure to a broader decentralized AI market, while some subnets are also starting to generate meaningful revenue from paying customers outside the network.

That commercial activity is becoming more important to Bittensor. Subnet revenue has climbed into the tens of millions of dollars on an annualized basis, and some teams are using part of that revenue for alpha token buybacks. This creates a strong link between real product usage and the economics of individual subnets.

Grayscale’s thesis is that blockchains could become useful infrastructure for an emerging AI agent economy. Autonomous agents may need payments, identity, private computation and verifiable data. Bittensor fits into that idea by building an open market for intelligence itself, which helps explain why TAO remains one of the most prominent assets in the AI crypto category.

➛ Read Grayscale’s Report on AI Crypto Momentum Here.