Key Takeaways
- • Grayscale highlighted three small-cap crypto tokens, DATA Network (DATA), USD.AI (CHIP) and Pearl (PEARL), as operating deeper in the AI infrastructure buildout than larger names Bittensor (TAO), NEAR and World (WLD), according to a note published on Friday.
- • DATA Network, formerly Story, builds tools to collect, license and track human-contributed data such as photos, videos and voice recordings for AI labs, rewarding contributors.
- • USD.AI (CHIP) arranges loans backed by GPUs and their income, with onchain pools letting investors fund those loans and potentially earn yield; CHIP was the only one of six cited tokens in the green on Sunday, up over 4% in 24 hours.
- • Grayscale said PEARL is up 580% over three months; Pearl lets GPUs run AI workloads while securing a proof-of-work blockchain, with compute providers earning PRL rewards on top of AI revenue.
Summary
Asset manager Grayscale published a note on Friday highlighting three lesser-known blockchain projects it sees as operating deeper in the AI buildout, beyond the larger AI-linked tokens Bittensor (TAO), NEAR (NEAR) and World (WLD), which it said play "more prominent roles" in AI services, blockchain-based agent commerce and proof of personhood. The AI-focused tokens traded mixed on Sunday, according to Stocktwits, which published the coverage.
The first project named was DATA Network (DATA), formerly known as Story. Grayscale said it is building tools to "collect, license, and track human-contributed data," including photos, videos and voice recordings, which applications on the network can license to AI labs while rewarding the contributors. DATA's price fell more than 2% over the prior 24 hours, while retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained in the 'bullish' zone.
Grayscale also pointed to USD.AI (CHIP), which arranges loans backed by graphics processing units (GPUs) and the income they generate. Grayscale said compute providers often need outside capital because chips are costly. USD.AI's onchain pools allow investors to fund these loans and potentially earn yield. CHIP was the only one of the six cited tokens to trade higher, rising over 4% in the past day, while retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained 'bearish'.
The third project, Pearl (PEARL), allows GPUs to perform "double duty": the same hardware runs AI workloads while securing a proof-of-work blockchain, so compute providers can earn PRL rewards alongside AI revenue. Grayscale said PEARL is "up 580% in the past three months." PEARL's price was up over 0.3% on Sunday, and retail sentiment stayed 'bullish', though chatter dropped to 'high' from 'extremely high' levels over the past day.
The first project named was DATA Network (DATA), formerly known as Story. Grayscale said it is building tools to "collect, license, and track human-contributed data," including photos, videos and voice recordings, which applications on the network can license to AI labs while rewarding the contributors. DATA's price fell more than 2% over the prior 24 hours, while retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained in the 'bullish' zone.
Grayscale also pointed to USD.AI (CHIP), which arranges loans backed by graphics processing units (GPUs) and the income they generate. Grayscale said compute providers often need outside capital because chips are costly. USD.AI's onchain pools allow investors to fund these loans and potentially earn yield. CHIP was the only one of the six cited tokens to trade higher, rising over 4% in the past day, while retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained 'bearish'.
The third project, Pearl (PEARL), allows GPUs to perform "double duty": the same hardware runs AI workloads while securing a proof-of-work blockchain, so compute providers can earn PRL rewards alongside AI revenue. Grayscale said PEARL is "up 580% in the past three months." PEARL's price was up over 0.3% on Sunday, and retail sentiment stayed 'bullish', though chatter dropped to 'high' from 'extremely high' levels over the past day.
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