Grayscale AI Crypto Soars 54% in September, Outperforming Market

AI Crypto Sector Outpaces Market with 54% September Surge

While the broader cryptocurrency market experienced a solid September, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) crypto sector emerged as a standout performer, significantly outpacing its peers. Grayscale’s AI crypto sector delivered a remarkable 54% return for the month, more than doubling the 24% gain seen across the wider crypto market as tracked by Grayscale’s own six-sector framework.

These figures were detailed in a Grayscale research note released on October 2, authored by Head of Research Zach Pandl. The firm employs a proprietary system to categorize the crypto market into six distinct segments, with the AI sector leading the pack by a substantial margin in September.

Pandl attributed the sector’s strong performance to investors’ early recognition of blockchains as essential infrastructure for the burgeoning agent economy. He highlighted potential use cases such as payments, identity management, private computation, and verifiable records.

The tokens contributing to the 54% aggregate return did not perform uniformly. NEAR led the charge with an impressive 183% gain for the month. VVV followed with a 70% increase, and WLD added 47%. TAO, another token within Grayscale’s Decentralized AI Fund alongside NEAR, RENDER, and FIL, also showed strong performance, closing the month up 37%.

A notable single-day surge on September 22 further bolstered the AI narrative, with AI tokens collectively posting an approximate 9.7% gain in a single trading session, according to Grayscale’s report.

Despite its impressive monthly gains, the AI sector still represents the smallest market capitalization among all sectors within Grayscale’s framework. Following the rally, its valuation stands at approximately $15 billion.

Grayscale’s engagement with AI crypto extends beyond research. The firm launched its Decentralized AI Fund in 2024, a product designed to invest in tokens aligned with the AI-blockchain convergence thesis. This fund includes holdings such as NEAR, TAO, RENDER, and FIL, and underwent a rebalancing in early August 2026.

A more direct strategic shift occurred on September 22, when Grayscale rebranded its Bitcoin Miners ETF to the Grayscale AI Compute ETF, trading under the ticker GCPU. This fund now tracks the Indxx High Performance Computing Index, pivoting its focus from Bitcoin mining equities to a broader spectrum of high-performance computing equities and futures.