VC Investors Just Valued This Company at $1 Billion. Does That Make Venice (VVV) the Best AI Crypto to Buy Right Now?

Right now, it seems almost impossible to find any cryptocurrency that's up big for the year. But there's actually a top-100 cryptocurrency that's up 530% this year.

That cryptocurrency is Venice (CRYPTO: VVV), a privacy-focused AI crypto launched by Venice AI. So is it worth adding to your portfolio right now, or is it too risky to own?

The newest Silicon Valley unicorn

In Silicon Valley VC investing, any company that reaches a billion-dollar valuation is known as a "unicorn." And that's exactly what Venice AI has become after landing a $65 million VC financing round that valued the company at $1 billion.

Image source: Getty Images.

The goal of Venice AI is to build a privacy-focused alternative to AI programs such as ChatGPT for text, images, and code. It's a generative AI platform that looks and feels a lot like ChatGPT, and is available directly through an internet browser (at https://venice.ai)

The privacy angle is an important one. When you use the Venice AI platform, you're encouraged to "ask anything privately..." You can do so without fear that your data is being used by someone else or that you're being snooped on by somebody else.

According to founder Erik Voorhees, a cryptocurrency industry veteran, the No. 1 threat from artificial intelligence (AI) is not the loss of jobs or any kind of major cybersecurity breach. Instead, it is the loss of privacy.

As Voorhees warns: "Perhaps it is not job losses or cybersecurity incidents that should most frighten us, but rather that our flow of consciousness is increasingly under examination -- our thoughts are now constructed in tandem with and at the permission of this dystopian apparatus."

Think of Venice AI as combining the best of decentralized blockchain technology and generative AI, in a way that is privacy-focused and censorship-resistant. That's a powerful combination, and a good reason why the Venice token is flying up the charts right now. It's up 572% in 2026, and more than 2,000% since its launch in 2024.

What do you get when you buy the Venice token?

It might seem obvious, but owning the Venice crypto token is not the same thing as owning equity in the billion-dollar company. Venice is the utility token for the Venice AI platform.

While they do not have an ownership stake in Venice AI, crypto investors can stake their Venice tokens to receive computational resources and platform access to premium Venice AI offerings without paying per-prompt fees. Venice refers to this as "stake-for-service."

Where does Venice (VVV) go from here?

So how much higher can Venice go? It all depends on the public's reaction to the rise of powerful, heavily centralized AI computing platforms. Venice is positioning itself as the antidote to a potentially dystopian future. And, as long as those fears remain real, Venice has the potential to soar in value.

Just keep in mind that plenty of AI crypto tokens have soared to stratospheric highs, only to crash shortly thereafter. AI investors are notably fickle, and trends can change on a dime in the AI world. Venice, to be fair, is already down 50% from its all-time high in January 2025.

However, if you are comfortable with that level of risk, Venice could be worth a closer look. The worlds of blockchain technology and AI are converging in new ways, and that's creating entirely new investment opportunities.

Dominic Basulto has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Venice Token. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.