Grayscale Bets Big on Decentralized AI with New Crypto Fund

• Grayscale Investments announces the launch of the Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund LLC.
• The fund envisions providing accredited investors with exposure to decentralized AI protocols.
• The asset manager updated the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust’s registration statement, lowering the fee to 0.15%.

Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital asset manager, has publicly launched the Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund LLC, a fund designed to give accredited investors exposure to decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) protocols.

The asset manager’s official announcement stated that the AI Fund will rebalance quarterly. As of July 16, 2024, the initial basket of AI crypto protocols includes Bittensor (TAO), Filecoin (FIL), Livepeer (LPT), Render (RNDR), and Near (NEAR), with Near, Filecoin, and Render comprising the majority.

In their press release , Grayscale identified three primary areas of focus for the fund. These categories encompass chatbots, image generation, and other decentralized AI applications; addressing AI-related challenges such as deepfakes, misinformation, and bots; and AI infrastructure like decentralized marketplaces, GPU computation, and data storage.

Commenting on Grayscale’s innovative approach, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Head of Product Research at Grayscale, stated that the fund aims to provide investors with exposure to decentralized AI at the earliest possible stage. Elaborating on the initiative’s potential, Sharif-Askary said:

“The blockchain-based AI protocols embody the principles of decentralization, accessibility, and transparency, and the Grayscale team feels strongly that these protocols can help mitigate the fundamental risks emerging alongside the proliferation of AI technology.”

Coinciding with the launch of the AI Fund, Grayscale updated the registration statement for Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust, reducing the management fee to 0.15% from 0.25%. Additionally, the platform announced it would waive the fee for the first six months, up to $2 billion in assets under management (AUM). This move follows the recent criticism of Grayscale’s high fee strategy.