NEAR Leads AI Crypto Rally as Grayscale Predicts Sector's Future Stars
The AI crypto sector has seen significant gains, more than doubling the broader market's rise, according to Grayscale. NEAR Protocol (NEAR) led the charge, up 183% in September, while other AI-linked tokens like Venice (VVV), World (WLD), and Bittensor (TAO) also saw strong gains. Grayscale's AI crypto sector rose 54% in September, outpacing the broader market's 24% gain.
Grayscale's Head of Research, Zach Pandl, noted that the AI sector is worth around $15 billion and could produce 'one or more major winners' over the next five years. Pandl highlighted the potential for public blockchains to provide open infrastructure for agent payments, identity, and private compute.
Despite the rally, NEAR saw a setback last week due to a bug in its Omni deposit and withdrawal infrastructure, resulting in losses of around $3.8 million. However, the company has since patched the contract-side vulnerability and promised to compensate affected users in full.