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This article is for informational purposes only and is not a financial promotion. It does not recommend any provider, product or strategy. For more information, visit the FCA’s guide.
It’s hard to imagine two technologies more of the zeitgeist than artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, so it’s no surprise that the two fields have converged in the form of AI cryptocurrencies.
We’ve looked at some of the biggest AI cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation (the number of ‘coins’ in circulation multiplied by the current market price), according to CoinMarketCap. But first, here’s a primer on what constitutes an AI cryptocurrency.
What are cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies are a form of digital currency that is known to be an extremely high-risk investment. They can be spent or traded, but they’re not issued by central banks or stored in traditional financial institutions.
Instead, they’re ‘decentralised’, which means records of balances and transactions aren’t held or controlled by banks or other payment providers. Instead, they’re logged by people who volunteer to keep track of everything using specialist software.
Volunteers participate because, by doing so, they get the opportunity to acquire valuable cryptocurrency without having to pay for it.
What is AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science enabling machines to make decisions and generate content based on data, increasingly mimicking human intelligence.
Recent examples include AI-generated artwork – where a program interprets user prompts, written in natural language, to create pieces of digital art – and ChatGPT, an application that is able to ‘write’ according to a brief submitted by the user.
In both cases, the outputs are close enough to what a real person might create that they could be mistaken for human creation, and these applications are getting increasingly sophisticated.
Use cases for AI are effectively limitless, and the technology has inevitably found its way into the cryptocurrency space.
What’s an AI cryptocurrency?
AI cryptocurrencies are tokens that power AI blockchain platforms such as The Graph. Users spend tokens in order to use the platforms and enjoy the benefits of their integrated artificial intelligence.
We’ve looked at some of the leading AI crypto projects, as measured by their market caps, to see how AI is being used within the crypto sector.
Figures correct as of 1 December 2025.
1 – Bittensor (TAO)
Market cap: £2 billion
Bittensor is a decentralised marketplace for artificial intelligence. Developers can build and offer AI models on the Bittensor network, and users can access those models. Participants spend Bittensor’s native token, TAO, to use the network.
TAO trades at £199.65
2 – Near Protocol (NEAR)
Market cap: £1.5 billion
Near Protocol (NEAR) is a platform for developers to build decentralised apps (dApps). As a layer 1 blockchain, Near is a rival to Ethereum, but it is faster, with a higher throughput. It achieves this with a unique ‘sharding’ technique that breaks the blockchain down into smaller sub-chains, with different validators working on each.
NEAR trades at £1.23
3 – Internet Computer (ICP)
Market cap: £1.4 billion
Internet Computer’s big idea is a decentralised internet. Instead of websites and apps being hosted on servers owned by giants like Google and Amazon, websites built on ICP would have no fixed home, and would move between independently-owned servers. Users spend ICP tokens to keep their sites online.
ICP trades at £2.73
4 – Filecoin (FIL)
Market cap: £796 million
Filecoin is a peer-to-peer, decentralised file storage system. Users spend FIL tokens to store, retrieve and host digital information on the network.
FIL trades at £1.10
5 – Render (RNDR)
Market cap: £617 million
Render allows artists to harness the computing power necessary to render computer graphics from crypto miners who are willing to rent out their graphics processing units (GPUs). The project was launched in 2017.
RNDR is the native currency of the Render project, and users spend it to access miners’ GPU power. The system operates on a proof-of-work consensus mechanism.
RNDR trades at £1.19
6 – Story (IP)
Market cap: £569 million
Story is a blockchain project concerned with tokenising creative works such as art and music so that they can be licensed and monetised.
IP trades at £1.71.
7 – Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL)
Market cap: £403 million
Virtuals Protocol allows users to build, own and invest in artificial intelligence (AI) agents that act autonomously to achieve different tasks.
VIRTUAL currently trades at £0.61
8 – Artificial Intelligence Alliance (FET)
Market cap: £389 million
Artificial Intelligence Alliance is a cooperative project between Fetch.ai, SingularityNET and Ocean Protocol. The project aims to create a decentralised AI ecosystem and a universal AI token (ASI).
FET trades at £0.17.
9 – Injective (INJ)
Market cap: £388 million
Injective is a blockchain project focused on decentralised apps (dApps) in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space. INJ is its native token, and users spend it to consume Injective services and vote on its governance (more tokens means more votes).
INJ trades at £3.88
10 – The Graph (GRT)
Market cap: £371 million
The Graph is a protocol for indexing and querying data from blockchains in a similar way that Google indexes and queries data from websites. Indexing blockchain data can be challenging, but The Graph aims to change that by organising data into smaller ‘subgraphs’.
GRT trades at £0.03
How can an investor buy AI cryptocurrencies?
Many AI cryptocurrencies can be bought using crypto exchanges, as is the case with traditional cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
To trade, investors will need to open an account, which involves identity verification, and deposit some fiat currency. They’ll then be able to navigate to the page of the AI cryptocurrency they want to buy within the exchange, enter the amount they’d like to buy, and execute the trade.
How can an investor store AI cryptocurrencies?
Most exchanges offer a free crypto wallet facility in which to store private and public keys – the credentials necessary to spend or trade crypto assets. If an investor prefers, they can store their keys in an offline ‘cold’ wallet.
Cold wallets are arguably more secure than hot wallets, since hackers cannot target them as easily. However, if an investor loses their login details for their cold wallet, they won’t get the support regaining access to their keys that they should get with a hot wallet.
Are AI cryptocurrencies considered safe?
The UK’s financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has repeatedly issued warnings about investing in cryptocurrency, saying people should be prepared to lose all the money they invest.
And as for hackers, crypto wallets and exchanges are likely to remain a target for criminals, leaving people’s assets at the mercy of the security that they and their exchanges implement.
Cold wallets are a hedge against hacks, but they become vulnerable once connected to a web-connected computer.
Meanwhile, exchanges continue to be attacked. They may bolster their security measures as hackers expose weaknesses, but it’s a cat-and-mouse game that looks certain to continue.
