Grayscale (Grayscale) latest research shows that AI-themed assets have become one of the strongest sectors in the September crypto market. The FTSE Grayscale AI Crypto Industry Index rose 54% in one month, while the broader crypto market rose 24% over the same period. Representative projects NEAR, VVV, and TAO increased 183%, 70%, and 37%, respectively.
Grayscale positions NEAR as a foundational platform supporting commercial activity for AI agents; Venice ($VVV) focuses on privacy-oriented generative AI services that do not store users’ prompts; and Bittensor ($TAO) provides specialized services such as model inference, data, compute, and AI agents through different subnets. In other words, although all three are categorized under the AI crypto theme, their actual business models and sources of token value are not the same.
Latest price action begins to diverge
As of around 1 p.m. on October 5, Taipei time:
NEAR was trading at around $4.85, up 1.0% on the day;
VVV was trading at around $29.60, up 6.5%;
TAO was trading at around $298.83, down 2.4%;
Over the same period, Bitcoin was trading at around $85,614, up 1.0%, while Ether was around $2,705, up 0.5%. The divergence becomes even more pronounced over a one-week period. Although NEAR was the leading project by September gains in Grayscale’s data, it has fallen about 7.1% over the past seven days and currently has a market cap of around $6.33 billion. VVV is still up 4.4% over the past seven days, with a market cap of around $1.42 billion, while TAO is down about 2.8%, with a market cap of around $3.43 billion.
Among these, VVV has maintained relative strength, but its derivatives leverage is also worth watching. CoinGecko data shows that VVV perpetual futures open interest is around $271 million, equivalent to about 19% of its market cap. Perpetual futures trading volume is roughly 32 times spot trading volume, meaning the price could be amplified by both leveraged buying and forced liquidations.
The AI sector remains small; high growth also means high volatility
CoinGecko’s broader AI token category currently has a total market cap of around $26.17 billion and 24-hour trading volume of about $2.1 billion. Since CoinGecko’s coverage is broader, this figure cannot be directly compared with the FTSE Grayscale Index, but it still reflects the AI crypto market’s relatively limited size compared with the overall crypto market. Inflows or outflows of capital could therefore lead to significant price swings.
From a market-structure perspective, September did see a clear rally driven by the AI narrative. However, the latest trend looks more like a selective reshuffling among individual projects after a sharp surge, rather than a second wave lifting all AI coins. NEAR is digesting its 183% monthly gain, VVV remains strong on its privacy AI narrative, while TAO is temporarily lagging.
What really needs to be watched is whether the AI sector’s total market cap and spot trading volume can continue to grow, whether NEAR can end its short-term pullback, whether VVV’s rally is overly dependent on leverage, and whether TAO can regain its footing above $300. If gains are led by only a few low-liquidity tokens, this rally is more likely to be speculative hype. If capital flows into infrastructure, applications, and AI agents in tandem, it would be closer to a sustainable AI crypto cycle.
The article "Are AI coins next in line? Grayscale: NEAR surged 183% in September, up 54%; VVV remains strong while TAO slips" was first published on (Blockcast).