For more than three years -- ever since the launch of ChatGPT back in November 2022 -- crypto investors have salivated at the thought of new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cryptocurrencies with the potential to create multimillionaires.
The only problem, of course, is that there is no ChatGPT or OpenAI crypto token. So investors have been forced to dig through hundreds of different AI coins, trying to find the one cryptocurrency capable of generating life-changing wealth.
So, does such an AI coin really exist? And if so, how can you invest in it so that you can retire a millionaire?
The universe of potential millionaire-maker AI coins
To get started, it's helpful to chart the performance of artificial intelligence coins during the past year. Yes, the chart is ugly -- but it helps to see which coins are moving in lockstep with each other, and which ones might be capable of breaking away from the pack in 2026.
Bittensor / US Dollar chart by TradingView
Based on the chart above, which shows the relative performance of the top 10 AI coins by market cap, it's easy to see that two names -- Bittensor (TAO +1.93%) and Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL 1.41%) -- stand head and shoulders above the rest. Bittensor is down about 19% during the past year, while other AI coins are down 43% or more.
While Virtuals Protocol has actually outperformed Bittensor during the past 12 months, it can still be hard to find on the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. For example, Coinbase Global (COIN 0.27%) still does not list the token for trading. For that reason, I'm focusing on Bittensor.
What is Bittensor?
Bittensor is a blockchain-based AI network founded in 2019 that is currently based in Toronto, Canada. While it may not be widely known to a U.S. investor base, Bittensor now ranks as the No. 1 AI coin by market cap (and the No. 35 cryptocurrency overall), so it's definitely worth putting on your investment radar for 2026.
Image source: Getty Images.
Moreover, Bittensor has an extremely small circulating coin supply: just 10.5 million coins right now, and a limited lifetime supply of just 21 million coins. That second number is important because Bitcoin (BTC 0.23%) -- the cryptocurrency that has minted more than 145,000 crypto millionaires around the world -- has an identical lifetime cap on its supply.
This limited supply creates the potential for enormous scarcity as well as rapid price appreciation. The current price of Bittensor is $291 (as of Jan. 6). By way of comparison, AI coins with huge circulating coin supplies trade for mere pennies, and can be safely avoided for now.
Bittensor and the AI investment thesis
Looking ahead, two key catalysts can help to push Bittensor higher in the coming years. The most obvious catalyst, of course, is the worldwide surge in demand for everything AI-related. In theory, that should lead to more demand for a high-quality, high-performance blockchain such as Bittensor capable of hosting and integrating cutting-edge AI projects.
CRYPTO: TAO
Key Data Points
This might sound simplistic, but as long as investors are excited about the AI investment thesis, they should be excited about Bittensor. Since it is a decentralized, open-source platform, Bittensor is open to AI projects that might not have otherwise gained traction from corporations. This creates an even larger window for future success for Bittensor, especially when you think about the pace of AI advancement.
For example, Chinese AI researchers continue to build on top of the Bittensor platform, and that means Bittensor could get a giant boost from any breakthrough in Chinese AI innovation. As soon as DeepSeek launched last year, for example, all eyes focused on whether DeepSeek might choose to integrate with Bittensor.
New Bittensor ETFs on the way
The second major catalyst is institutional adoption by Wall Street. Another signal came early this year, with news of a planned Bittensor exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Grayscale. That would make investing in Bittensor much easier than it is now. As it stands now, you need to have a cryptocurrency account with a major platform such as Coinbase or Kraken. In the future, if ETFs are approved by regulators, all you'll need is a brokerage account.
A Bittensor ETF should do wonders in terms of attracting attention from both retail and institutional inventors. At the very least, it will make the idea of investing in an AI coin much more palatable to risk-averse investors. And it will help to provide a safe floor for Bittensor investors, as long as there are consistent inflows into these ETFs.
Is Bittensor a millionaire-maker?
If AI continues to grow by leaps and bounds, so should Bittensor. Over the long haul, Bittensor might be able to increase in price by a multiple of 10 or even 100. And that might be just enough to transform a modest upfront investment into a future nest egg worth $1 million or more.
