Undoubtedly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing virtually every industry, and the cryptocurrency industry is no exception. The convergence of AI and cryptocurrency brings new value to the crypto world, and one of them is the “AI token.”
AI tokens, also called “AI crypto tokens” or “AI agent coins,” are tokens in AI models. They are responsible for powering AI-driven crypto projects by helping machines to make smart decisions without human interference or control.
As more businesses use AI technology in 2025, existing AI-driven cryptocurrency projects are expected to grow as new ones emerge.
In this article, you will learn what AI tokens are and how they work. This article will also highlight the most popular AI tokens to watch in 2015. Whether you just want to learn more about tokens in AI or you’re an investor, this post is for you. Read on!
AI Tokens in Simple Terms
The crypto industry is vastly evolving beyond the traditional crypto tokens. While Bitcoin (BTC) is currently surging in value partly due to President Trump's crypto-friendly stance, a new development is emerging - AI Tokens.
AI tokens are also digital assets, but with special purposes. They differ from traditional cryptocurrencies like Ether because they are specifically made to fuel AI-based applications, systems, projects, and services.
For instance, traditional cryptos were developed to function as digital money. AI tokens, on the other hand, are created to power and manage AI projects and platforms.
Better still, think of AI tokens as the native tokens of AI-powered platforms like Render, Ocean Protocol, etc., just as UNI is the native token of the Uniswap protocol.
They are specially used for executing smart contracts, paying for AI services, and rewarding users for their contributions to the system.
In a nutshell, these tokens serve the unique purpose of enabling AI-driven programs and projects to function within blockchain networks. They combine the decision-making and analytical capabilities of AI with the decentralization, security, and transparency of blockchain.
Here are some practical AI crypto use cases:
- To pay for AI services and resources: Businesses or users often use these tokens to pay for AI-related services and resources, such as automation and data analysis.
In the same way you pay to access cloud computing services on Google or Amazon, you pay with AI agent coins to access AI data, models, or computing power. The difference is that everything happens automatically through AI agents, without the need for a middleman.
AI agents, like chatbots, are smart programs that can think and act independently, performing tasks automatically via smart contracts.
- To execute smart contracts: As said earlier, AI agents are smart programs following smart contracts. AI tokens give these AI agents the resources needed to function properly.
- To create decentralized AI networks: To prevent computing power from sitting in one data center and being controlled by one company, AI tokens aid the creation of decentralized AI networks.
Via the distribution of AI tokens, AI computing power can spread across many users, making it more secure and fairer. AI tokens enable node-like networks, where several computers worldwide can work together to run and train AI models.
In addition, AI tokens open up new possibilities for AI development. For instance, rather than having all the AI resources under the control of a few big tech firms, these AI cryptos create an open system or marketplace where several different people around the world can contribute to and benefit from AI technology.
- To rent computing power: To increase decentralization and network participation, AI token holders can rent out their computing power to the network and earn rewards in return.
For instance, Render allows artists to rent out their computing power to the network for AI-generated graphics.
Why AI Tokens are Booming in 2025
So, why are AI Tokens gaining traction in 2025? What’s behind the boom?
The answer is not far-fetched! AI tokens are booming due to key reasons, which include the following:
- Growing AI market: Due to the rapid advancements in technologies, many business owners are integrating AI into their various businesses.
Businesses are increasingly integrating AI to make smarter decisions, reduce costs, and streamline processes. All these are further fueling demand for AI-powered solutions.
Currently, the AI market is experiencing significant growth, and market experts predict that this may reach $5.27T by 2035. This growing investor interest in AI can subsequently lead to high returns from AI-powered projects.
- Decentralization, transparency, and accessibility: AI tokens connect blockchain tech with AI projects and services like automation and machine learning. This makes the AI projects and services more secure, decentralized, transparent, and accessible. Such a structure can lead to more trustworthy and robust AI applications.
- Increased community engagement: Many AI-powered projects, such as MolochDAO and Aragon, are revolutionizing decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) by allowing investors to participate in decision-making and governance processes. AI tokens act as a tool for participating in such processes.
- Potential for high returns: Many AI cryptos are in their nascent stage, which presents opportunities for high returns. For example, certain AI tokens saw a significant increase in price recently. This can possibly boost investors’ confidence in their potential.
- Increased demand for AI tokens and AI solutions: AI tokens can be used in various applications like predictive modeling, fraud detection, optimization, and automation. All of these showcase the potential of AI tokens for long-term relevance.
In a similar vein, business processes are increasingly integrating AI for AI-powered solutions. The increase in demand for AI-powered solutions will subsequently lead to an increase in demand for AI tokens.
- Monetization of AI services: Monetization of AI services can occur via tokenization of AI agents, which means representing the ownership, functionality, or value of an AI agent with an AI token.
- Technological advancements: Advanced AI algorithms and increased computing power are driving the rapid growth and adoption of AI, and subsequently the demand for AI tokens.
An example is Edge AI, which enables AI models and algorithms to be deployed directly on local edge devices, like smartphones, to enable real-time data analysis and processing without sole cloud reliance.
Edge AI enables more efficient, more secure, and faster AI-driven applications by bringing AI capabilities closer to the data source.
The Benefits of AI Tokens for Users and Developers
The integration of AI and blockchain led to the emergence of AI tokens, which offer potential benefits, such as:
- Easy access to advanced AI models, tools, and services without control from big tech companies. AI tokens make it possible for users to access AI services easily. For instance, instead of paying with fiat currency, businesses can easily pay for AI-related services and resources, such as data analysis, automation tools, and chatbots, using AI tokens, which are faster and more secure.
More so, AI tokens prevent big tech firms from controlling the AI-related services and resources, ensuring that individuals and small businesses also have fair access.
- AI tokens aid in faster and cheaper transactions. Unlike the traditional payment method, paying with AI tokens is faster and cheaper because these tokens work on the blockchain. Transactions with AI tokens are almost instantaneous, which is especially useful for users in different regions.
- Better security and privacy. Since AI tokens work on the blockchain, they offer better security and privacy. That means hackers can hardly steal or change your data, and you may not need to share your data when using AI services or paying with AI tokens.
- Offers earnings by providing data, computation, or contributions. Some AI projects and platforms reward users with AI tokens for sharing data, computation, or making contributions. These tokens are tradable and present opportunities for substantial returns.
- AI tokens support innovation in AI-related projects. Developers can raise funds for new AI projects by offering AI tokens to investors. With the AI tokens, the investors are investing in the future of that project.
- AI tokens promote community engagement. Some AI projects or platforms operate as DAOs. Users or members can only participate in governance and decision-making processes using the native AI token.
Risks to Know Before Investing
While AI crypto provides several benefits, it also comes with a lot of risks, which is important to understand before investing. The following are some of the challenges and risks investors should know before they make any decision:
- High Level of Volatility: Crypto investments are usually very volatile. The same goes for AI crypto. Market volatility can either favor a trader or be a disadvantage to them, depending on whether they went long or short. But the instability that comes with it makes it highly risky.
- Speculative Nature: AI crypto, just like its conventional cryptocurrency, are usually speculative. This means that there is usually no utility or tangible value attached to the crypto assets. Also, their prices are determined by short-term sensational returns. As a result, they are usually bought on the hope of a positive price fluctuation, which could go for or against the trader.
- Regulatory Ambiguity: The crypto industry has continued to be bewildered by regulatory ambiguity, despite the concerted efforts by authorities to improve regulation. AI tokens are also facing the same issues, which have become a major hindrance to widespread adoption from the mainstream financial sector. Changes in regulatory frameworks could impact an AI token heavily, which will affect its operations and price.
- Technical Reliance: AI tokens’ performance largely depends on the reliability of the underlying projects. Hence, technical challenges can quickly erode trust.
Addressing these risks and challenges can help to establish stability and trust in the market.
Most Popular AI Tokens in 2025
While memecoins are still making buzz, AI tokens are quietly gaining momentum, suggesting a bull run ahead.
Which AI token should you consider for investment in 2025? Let's take a look at the most popular AI agent coins that could soar to new heights this year.
Injective (INJ)
Injective was created by Eric Chen and Albert Chon in 2018 as an open, interoperable L1 blockchain optimized for DeFi apps. However, it now operates on a L2 blockchain.
It offers plug-and-play modules to developers to create several different financial apps, like lending protocols, prediction markets, and decentralized exchanges.
The native utility token, INJ, can be used for participating in token burn auctions, staking for network security, and as a governance token.
As of May 16, 2025, INJ ranks #69 on CoinMarketCap, has a market cap of $1.24B, and is trading at about $12.40.
You can get INJ on the official project website or well-known third-party websites like Binance, OKX, Kraken, and Kucoin.
The potential use cases of INJ include decentralized cross-chain derivatives trading, governance tokens, secure transfer of crypto assets and Web3 data, spot and derivatives trading, and more.
The Graph (GRT)
The Graph was created by Yaniv Tal, Brandon Ramirez, and Jannis Pohlmann in 2018. It is an open-source and decentralized indexing protocol for organizing and accessing blockchain data and data from other storage networks.
It makes data easily accessible with GraphQL. It also enables developers to develop diverse APIs known as subgraphs for separate queries.
GRT, the token that powers The Graph, is actually an ERC-20 token and not a direct AI token. However, GRT is gaining traction as an AI infrastructure component for data on blockchain networks, thanks to Semiotic Labs.
In May 2024, Semiotic Labs introduced two AI services (Inference and Agent) for The Graph. These AI services expanded The Graph’s data services and made it a potential AI infrastructure layer.
Currently, The Graph offers a foundation for AI apps to interact with blockchain data.
GRT currently ranks #73 on CoinMarketCap, has a market cap of $1.12B, and is trading at about $0.1145.
You can buy GRT on major crypto exchanges, such as Binance, SpectroCoin, Kraken, Coinbase, and Revolut.
As mentioned above, The Graph is mainly used for blockchain indexing. By nature, blockchain networks hold lots of data, and accessing such data can be challenging.
However, The Graph makes this a breeze by offering decentralized indexing, which makes searching, finding, accessing, and utilizing blockchain data so easy.
Render (RNDR)
Render, the world's first decentralized GPU rendering platform, was founded by Jules Urbach and officially launched in April 2020.
It was created to supercharge creative workflow by harnessing idle GPU power worldwide.
The platform connects content creators who need rendering services with providers who have idle GPU resources, offering them scalable and cost-effective solutions for rendering stunning and complex 3-D animations and graphics or training AI models.
Render optimizes rendering tasks using AI, ensuring efficient processing and distribution across its network.
The native token, RNDR, facilitates GPU-based rendering tasks within the ecosystem. Users pay for rendering services using RNDR, incentivizing GPU power providers to contribute more.
RNDR currently ranks #43 on CoinMarketCap, has a market cap of $2.53B, and is trading at about $4.89.
Note: Render (RNDR), an ERC-20 token, will soon be migrated and rebranded to Render (RENDER), a Solana-based token.
You can buy RNDR on the official website and other major crypto exchanges, such as Binance, SpectroCoin, Kraken, Coinbase, and Revolut.
Render’s potential use cases and applications include 3-D rendering for AI, architecture, augmented reality, scientific research, gaming, film, etc. The Render platform was reportedly used in blockbuster productions like Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars.
Fetch.ai (FET)
The Fetch.ai platform, an artificial intelligence lab, was founded in 2017 by Toby Simpson, Humayun Sheikh, and Thomas Hain. The mainnet went live in January 2020.
Fetch.ai is a semi-decentralized platform that uses AI agents to execute tasks like optimizing energy consumption, finding the best deals in a supply chain, etc.
Fetch.ai’s native token, FET, is used for paying for these AI services and rewarding participants.
Currently, FET ranks #52 on CoinMarketCap, it is worth $0.7966, and has a market cap of $ 1.9 B.
FET can be purchased on major crypto exchanges, such as Binance, Bybit, eToro, and Coinbase.
Note: Cudos (CUDOS), Ocean Protocol (OCEAN), SingularityNet (AGIX), and Fetch.ai have partnered to develop the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance. As a result, it’s expected that all the tokens will be integrated into $ASI, a unified AI token.
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance, like Fetch.ai, develops a hub for autonomous AI agents who can optimize supply chains, perform transactions, and negotiate prices.
Theta (THETA)
Theta Network was co-founded in 2017 by Jieyi Long and Mitch Liu. The platform is a decentralized video streaming and cloud infrastructure network. The protocol has several use cases, including entertainment, media, AI, decentralized video transmission, and Web3 video streaming.
Theta enables users to watch or create their own video content. In doing so, it offers rewards to the users through TFuel, its native token, for sharing their internet bandwidth and computing resources.
The network operates on three central nodes: Enterprise Validator Nodes, Guardian Nodes, and Edge Nodes. It’s worth noting that the Theta Network is primarily built for AI delivery, data storage, and edge computing.
Theta utilizes two primary tokens: TFuel and THETA. While TFuel is the token used for operations, the THETA token is used as the governance token.
According to crypto data aggregator CoinMarketCap, Tfuel ranks at number 178 while THETA ranks number 80, with a market capitalization of $269.93 million and $919.8 million, respectively.
While TFuel is currently worth $0.03889, Theta is valued at $0.9192 in the market. THETA is available on several major cryptocurrencies, including Coinbase, Bitpanda, Bybit, and Binance.
Buying and Storing AI Tokens Safely
While buying AI tokens requires several steps, the entire process is unchallenging.
One of the easiest ways to buy AI tokens is through top crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Bybit, and Binance.
To do so, you’ll need a crypto wallet that can hold your tokens. There are several cryptocurrency wallets available today, each with its benefits and unique features. But they all do the same primary task, which is securely holding your cryptocurrencies.
You can opt for hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger or digital wallets like TrustWallet and MetaMask. You can also opt for either centralized or decentralized wallets.
Each wallet provides setup instructions that can guide you.
Once you’ve set up your wallet, the next phase is to select the right crypto exchange that fits your needs. There are both centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges to choose from.
Read through their requirements and provide the details needed. You’ll be asked to create an account and submit your personal information if you’re registering with a centralized exchange. You will also provide a means of identification, like an ID or a passport, for verification purposes.
Decentralized exchanges do not require the user to have an account. However, they require a compatible wallet to operate effectively.
The exchanges have several deposit options for users. You can use credit/debit cards, bank transfers, P2P, or other payment methods. Also, crypto assets can be deposited into your account and traded for AI tokens.
Before you buy AI tokens, it’s essential to carry out proper research before buying AI tokens. The high risk and volatility in the market mean that it’s essential to understand the project, verify its legitimacy and those behind the project, and understand risk factors.
Here are some of the safety measures to take when purchasing AI tokens
Carry out proper research and make sure you understand all you can about the project. Go through the project’s use cases, whitepaper, and other variables that can help you make the right investment decision.
Confirm the legitimacy of the token. You can do this by researching the project’s blockchain network, evaluating its smart contract code, and checking for audits.
Risk management. It’s essential to effectively manage your risk and follow the basic investment rules by starting small. Invest only what you can afford to lose, keeping in mind that AI tokens are highly volatile and unpredictable.
Be conscious of market security. Always select a trusted crypto exchange that has a reputation in the market. This is necessary in case an issue comes up. Also, enable an extra layer of security on your crypto account to prevent cases of fraud in your account.
Understand the AI token’s specifics, such as its utility, liquidity, and tokenomics.
AI Tokens and Web3
The intersection of AI tokens and Web3 is redefining DeFi by transforming digital ownership, asset management, and trading. AI-powered trading algorithms are automating complex financial decisions, optimizing DeFi strategies, enhancing market efficiency, etc.
More so, decentralized AI (DeAI) agents are emerging as autonomous entities that can interact with an innovative contract-based environment, manage digital assets, and execute transactions.
However, there are some inherent challenges, such as scalability, disruption, regulatory uncertainties, and security risks.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are AI tokens a good investment in 2025?
Yes, AI tokens are a good investment in 2025 due to their impressive growth and increasing adoption. However, AI tokens are still speculative and highly volatile. Hence, you need to research thoroughly and understand the possible risks before you invest.
What are the different types of tokens used in AI?
Types of tokens used in AI include word tokens, subword tokens, character tokens, punctuation tokens, special tokens, number tokens, out-of-vocabulary (OOV) tokens, padding tokens, and sentence start/end tokens.
Can I use AI tokens without technical knowledge?
Yes, you can use AI tokens without having technical knowledge. Most modern AI apps are developed with user-friendly interfaces, which make them accessible and useful to those without technical knowledge.
How do AI tokens work?
They are the language and currency of AI. They are responsible for powering AI-driven crypto projects by helping machines to make wise decisions without human interference or control.
What makes an AI token different from Bitcoin or Ethereum?
AI token differs from Bitcoin or Ethereum because it is specifically made to fuel AI-based applications, systems, projects, and services.
How do I know if a token is legit?
To know if a token is legit, you can verify it by checking its smart contract address on official sources and reputable platforms.