The age of artificial intelligence (AI) is here, and AI agents are now more empowered than ever to make and spend funds. Given that cryptocurrency is already a digitally native form of money that's highly accessible to machines, it makes sense that many of the industry's top players are positioning themselves to capture value from AI in a variety of different ways.
So without further ado, here are the three cryptocurrencies that are worth buying and holding for the long term thanks to their efforts to make big strides in AI and everything it involves.
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1. Ethereum is pioneering an ID card for on-chain AI
Since its launch in May 2025 through mid-July of this year, an internet payment standard called x402 has settled about 109.6 million machine-to-machine transactions, worth about $15 million in total. Ethereum (ETH +0.33%) is working on a separate piece of the same problem, tracking the identities and reputations of the AI agents doing that transacting.
CRYPTO: ETH
Key Data Points
Ethereum's newly launched identity standard for AI agents, ERC-8004, nicknamed Trustless Agents, addresses that issue with three new on-chain data registries that track identity, agent reputation, and independent validations of an agent's work. The idea is that as agents or humans use Ethereum's chain, they will now have a standardized set of identity criteria to confirm which agent is which across time, as well as a series of references for each agent's work history. Thus, it will pave the way for users and agents to be able to assess which agents are suitable for which kinds of tasks and why.
The ERC-8004 standard is already being picked up by more than 20 other networks, including plenty that have nothing to do with Ethereum. But the main downside is that for all the prestige-building and thought leadership the new standard does for Ethereum and its ecosystem, it can only lead to the coin itself experiencing a tailwind if it attracts more activity and more capital to its own network, not the networks of its peers.
2. Solana could be the place where agents trade tokenized stocks
Solana (SOL +0.41%) is pursuing a strategy to become a primary venue for trading tokenized stocks, which are cryptos that represent share ownership.
Trading in its on-chain tokenized stocks grew sixfold tin the first half of 2026, and it's now the home of more than 95% of all tokenized equity activity. Therefore, if there are AI agents designed for trading tokenized stocks, the odds are extremely high that they'll be configured to operate on Solana first. And that could well bring more activity to the chain, which might boost the price of the coin.
CRYPTO: SOL
Key Data Points
Solana also adopted the x402 standard for agents to use to make easy purchases of resources on the internet. That means stock trading agents assigned to the chain could potentially purchase their own research materials or premium data feeds. Furthermore, Solana's own Agent Registry is interoperable with Ethereum's ERC-8004, so an agent's track record can travel between the two.
Another edge Solana has in AI is its speed and low cost. Compared to Ethereum, its network is much more responsive, and, when paired with its low transaction costs, it's a much lower-friction place to develop a new AI-based application. In the long run, it might become home to many such applications, which would help to boost its price.
3. Bittensor is the purest AI bet
Bittensor (TAO +0.07%) is a blockchain that hosts many subnets, most of which can be thought of as mini-businesses that provide AI-related services for a fee.
Most subnets are devoted to one narrow machine learning task, like answering queries or training large language models. The subnet's contributors, who offer their computing power for a fee, do the work; the validators grade it; and then the validators dole out newly issued units of Bittensor's native token to the best version of the work. The point of this model is that it enables decentralized execution of tasks that typically require substantial aggregated resources, often in a data center.
CRYPTO: TAO
Key Data Points
For now, the amount of supply growth the coin experiences (a direct consequence of trying to subsidize demand in and for its internal markets) outpaces what users are actually paying for its services. Nonetheless, if the subnets can adapt and provide services that are in real demand, that is likely to change over time. The fact that Bittensor is competing directly in AI training services, a highly competitive category, does make it significantly more risky than the other assets in this article, though.
