AI Linked Crypto Tokens Outperformed Broader Digital Assets Market In September : Grayscale

Digital assets tied to artificial intelligence posted the strongest relative returns of any major crypto category last month, according to research published by Grayscale. In a note dated October 2, 2026, the firm’s head of research, Zach Pandl, reported that Grayscale’s Artificial Intelligence Crypto Sector advanced 54 percent in September 2026.

That result more than doubled the 24 percent gain recorded by the broader crypto market under the same six-sector classification the firm uses to organize the asset class.

The outperformance was concentrated in a handful of tokens that Grayscale tracks as proxies for blockchain infrastructure serving AI.

NEAR rose 183 percent, the largest move among the names highlighted.

Venice’s VVV token climbed 70 percent, World’s WLD gained 47 percent, and Bittensor’s TAO advanced 37 percent.

Grayscale describes NEAR as a platform oriented toward agentic commerce and notes that one of its co-founders contributed to the research behind the transformer architecture.

Venice is characterized as a consumer application that offers private access to models without retaining prompts or responses.

World is presented as a proof-of-human network co-founded by OpenAI’s chief executive.