Grayscale’s October 23 research note looks at a more specific crypto-and-AI proposition than a general bet on smarter software: who supplies training data, who finances hardware and who receives payment when computing capacity is used.
TL;DRIn the note, research head Zach Pandl describes DATA’s work on contributed training data, USD.AI’s GPU-backed lending and Pearl’s attempt to combine AI computing with blockchain rewards. These are Grayscale’s selected examples and expectations, not independently proven outcomes for the entire sector.
Each model has a different customer. A data network needs someone willing to license its datasets. A financing protocol needs borrowers who can service debt. A computing network needs useful workloads and a way to measure delivery. Combining them under an AI-token heading can hide more than it reveals.
USD.AI’s documentation makes the credit element explicit. It describes loans secured by GPUs and associated cash flows, with recourse generally limited to the collateral and specified exceptions. Its yield-bearing instrument draws on loan payments and reserve-related income.
That creates familiar underwriting questions in a new distribution format. What happens if the equipment loses value faster than expected? How concentrated are the customers paying to use it? Who can recover and sell collateral if a borrower fails? A blockchain record can improve visibility into a claim without answering all three.
The operating-versus-financing distinction also runs through Bitdeer’s mining and AI disclosures. Machines, funded capacity and realized customer revenue are related measures, but they are not interchangeable.
Even successful infrastructure does not automatically deliver the same benefit to every associated token. A governance token, a claim on lending income and a token used to pay for a service can have very different rights.
USD.AI’s depositor guide, for example, separates the non-yield-bearing USDai instrument, the income-accruing sUSDai instrument and CHIP governance. Naming the protocol alone does not identify which exposure a holder receives.
The same discipline applies to data. Paying contributors can encourage useful supply, but sustainable demand depends on whether buyers find that data lawful, relevant and difficult to obtain elsewhere. Token incentives can finance initial activity without proving that customers will keep paying once incentives shrink.
Tokenized-asset growth similarly needs to be read through the rights attached to the token. And AI-facing consumer applications still need users who return because a product is useful.
Grayscale’s report provides a set of business models to examine. Adoption, unit economics and enforceable claims will provide the stronger evidence that those models are becoming durable businesses.
Written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
TL;DR: Ethereum ETFs returned to net inflows on October 21 after five negative sessions. The $14.9 million gain was modest, with Grayscale and Fidelity offsetting continued withdrawals from BlackRock’s ETHA.
The losing streak ended. The recovery in Ethereum fund demand was considerably less decisive.
US spot Ether ETFs recorded $14.9 million in net inflows on Wednesday, Farside Investors’ figures show. Grayscale’s ETH product brought in $28.1 million and Fidelity’s FETH added $13 million, while BlackRock’s ETHA lost $29.3 million.
Smaller positive readings from Bitwise, Franklin and Morgan Stanley helped leave the overall total above zero. The other listed products recorded no net movement.
The five preceding trading days, October 14 through October 20, produced combined withdrawals of $388.9 million. Wednesday recovered approximately 3.8% of that sum, based on the same table.
That makes the change in direction useful without making it a full repair. The aggregate turned positive because subscriptions at some providers exceeded redemptions at another, rather than because every major fund began attracting money simultaneously.
Issuer differences deserve attention. Investors can move between competing products, change portfolio exposure or manage positions for reasons a daily aggregate does not disclose. The data establishes the net result; it cannot identify the motives of the underlying accounts.
For Ethereum, a small inflow after sustained withdrawals removes one immediate source of pressure. It does not settle the larger question of whether demand for the investment products is rebuilding.
A stronger recovery would involve repeated positive totals, with contributions from more than a narrow set of funds. Continued redemptions at a large product could still outweigh subscriptions elsewhere, as the recent sequence demonstrates.
Fund flows also need to be kept separate from network activity. ETF subscriptions measure demand for a particular investment wrapper. They do not directly measure Ethereum transaction fees, staking participation or how much value applications settle.
Wednesday’s session therefore changes the description from an uninterrupted outflow run to an uneven pause in selling. The next few daily reports will show whether that pause develops into something more durable.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
TL;DR: Grayscale and investment platform Republic are offering three specialised crypto funds with minimum commitments starting at $2,500. The products remain restricted to eligible accredited investors.
Grayscale is opening another route into sector-specific cryptocurrency investing, reducing the minimum commitment for selected private funds through a distribution partnership with Republic.
The products focus on decentralised finance, artificial intelligence and blockchain data infrastructure. Eligible investors can gain exposure through managed vehicles rather than purchasing every underlying cryptocurrency themselves.
The $2,500 entry level is significantly lower than the sums typically associated with institutional private placements, but the offering should not be mistaken for a mass-market retail investment product.
Grayscale’s decentralised finance portfolio includes projects associated with lending, trading and other blockchain-based financial services. Its AI strategy covers networks involved in decentralised computing and related technology.
The partnership illustrates how asset managers are packaging more specialised cryptocurrency themes for investors who already understand conventional investment products.
Grayscale has separately explored staking-related changes to its Ethereum and Solana investment structures, reflecting its effort to develop products beyond straightforward token-price exposure.
Participation in the Republic offering is limited to accredited investors under applicable US securities rules. Private investment products may impose selling restrictions, and their holdings can be considerably less liquid than publicly traded ETFs.
The lower minimum also does nothing to eliminate the volatility of the cryptocurrencies inside each portfolio.
Still, the arrangement provides another example of how traditional asset managers are attempting to make a wider variety of digital assets accessible through familiar investment structures.
Written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin’s Volatility Has Fallen Within S&P 500 Ranks, Study Shows
Stocks and shares are a safer bet than buying bitcoin? Not so fast.
According to research from crypto asset manager Grayscale, the digital coin’s realized volatility fell within the distribution of S&P 500 constituents — with a meaningful number of large-cap stocks exhibiting more price swings.
Bitcoin’s price surged in August and September, giving it its best quarter in years and leading a number of analysts to declare that it’s back in a bull market.
“As the asset has matured, with deeper liquidity, broader institutional participation, and more regulated access venues, its price swings have narrowed considerably from the extremes of its early years,” the Grayscale’s head of research, Zach Pandl, wrote in a Wednesday note.
“That shifts the question from whether to own a volatile asset to how to size an allocation.”
He added that bitcoin’s volatility has declined to 43% over the past year, from an average of 64% over the past 10 years and 81% five years ago.
It is now lower than that of 19% of S&P 500 constituents. “For those comfortable owning volatile equities, Bitcoin’s price fluctuations may be less daunting than assumed,” the report added.
December data from K33 Research revealed that 2025 was the least volatile year for the asset so far.
Bitcoin’s price became notorious for wild swings in its early days — with drawdowns of over 80% in the space of months.
But as more investors have piled into the asset — especially since the 2024 approval of U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds — it’s become harder to move its price.
Still, bitcoin at one point in 2026 was down over 50% from the all-time high it hit last October . It has since recovered and was recently trading for $82,485 — 35% below its record of $126,080.
The coin in August benefited from news that the U.S. Treasury would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations. The so-called debasement trade — where investors buy an asset to hedge against a weakening currency — has become popular again, especially as the dollar has dropped.
This post Bitcoin’s Volatility Has Fallen Within S&P 500 Ranks, Study Shows first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
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