Grayscale Report: AI Crypto Sector Surges 54% as Blockchain Powers the Agent Economy

The report argues that public blockchains can complement centralized AI systems by supplying infrastructure that conventional platforms may struggle to provide independently. Blockchain networks can enable machine-to-machine payments, decentralized identity, private computation and verifiable records, creating new rails for autonomous software agents.

The opportunity remains relatively early. Even after September’s strong performance, Grayscale estimates the AI sector at approximately $15 billion, making it the smallest of the six crypto sectors tracked by the firm. That limited size also leaves room for individual networks to capture meaningful market share if blockchain-based AI applications gain adoption.

Grayscale Identifies Key AI Crypto Projects

Several tokens recorded substantial gains during September, reflecting growing investor attention toward crypto infrastructure connected to artificial intelligence. $NEAR rose 183%, while Bittensor gained 37%, World advanced 47% and Venice climbed 70%.

$NEAR is developing infrastructure aimed at agentic commerce, where autonomous software can interact with applications and conduct transactions. Bittensor takes a decentralized approach to AI by connecting specialized networks focused on areas such as inference, data and computing resources.