Miles Deutscher, a prominent crypto analyst with over 575,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), has unveiled his top ten artificial intelligence (AI) altcoins poised for significant growth by 2025. Emphasizing the burgeoning potential of the AI sector within the cryptocurrency landscape, Deutscher suggests that this could be “the biggest opportunity of the bull run.”

Why AI Offers A Lot Of Potential

Deutscher highlights the rapid expansion of the global AI market, noting that it grew by approximately $50 billion between 2023 and 2024. Projections estimate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.46%, potentially surpassing $826 billion by 2030. Despite AI’s significant presence in public discourse—accounting for nearly one-third of attention in the crypto space—it currently ranks as the 34th largest crypto sector by market capitalization, trailing behind sectors like liquid staking, memecoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi). “Yet, AI is still only the 34th ranked crypto sector by market cap, behind liquid staking, dog memes, DeFi, and more. I could easily see AI as a top 5-10 sector in a year’s time,” Deutscher stated.

He argues that this disparity presents a massive opportunity for investors. “Many mid-low cap AI tokens are still sitting at ridiculously low valuations. All it takes is a strong rotation into AI for many of these to quickly reprice 5-10x higher,” he explained. Deutscher outlines his fundamental thesis for why AI crypto is set for substantial growth. Firstly, he notes that everyone is becoming aware of how impactful AI will be on society. “Either people are scared, excited, or intrigued by the latest developments. This already cements AI in general in the minds of the masses,” he said.

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Secondly, he points out that AI is constantly innovating, with new products regularly entering the market. “Every time a new AI product is released, this puts even more focus on the sector. And crypto is an attention economy. More eyeballs equals more speculation,” Deutscher observed. Thirdly, he believes that crypto offers a lower barrier to gain exposure to the growth of AI. “Crypto is easier to access, able to be fractionalized, and generally ‘cheaper’ than investing in, let’s say, AI equities. For retail, this is a massive benefit,” he asserted.

Finally, he highlights the recent rise of AI agents, which has made people aware of the power of AI integrated with crypto. “We’re moving into a future where AI agents will trade autonomously on-chain for you, manage your portfolio and risk, DeFi, and more. It’s going to completely change the landscape of crypto,” Deutscher predicted. He also notes that this trend is occurring in traditional tech sectors, with corporations like Adobe and Expedia integrating AI agents into their operations.

Focusing on the AI and crypto landscape, Deutscher mentions that he is investing across various verticals, with a particular emphasis on AI agents and AI infrastructure. He is concentrating on “pick-and-shovel infrastructure protocols” rather than individual AI agents or broader DePIN plays. He discloses that he holds positions in all the projects he mentions, some as a strategic advisor and investor.

Top 10 AI Altcoins

Deutscher’s top ten AI altcoins, ordered from the largest to the smallest market capitalization, are as follows.

First on the list is Bittensor (TAO), which he describes as the AI market leader. Bittensor focuses on decentralizing AI research and has already seen significant adoption in scientific communities. “With the recent rollout of EVM compatibility, the network has taken a huge step forward, opening the door for developers to build DeFi ecosystems and unlock new use cases,” Deutscher noted.

Second is NEAR Protocol (NEAR), which he identifies as the leading Layer 1 (L1) blockchain intersecting with AI. “For those bullish on both verticals, NEAR serves as a solid proxy. Fun fact: Since its mainnet launch in October 2020, it has maintained 100% uptime,” he remarked.

Third is Grass (GRASS), a standout launch this cycle due to its data pipeline that seamlessly connects the real world with AI and crypto. “Recent developments in AI make data one of the most valuable commodities in the world. Grass uses crypto incentives to create a data pipeline that most AI companies otherwise cannot tap into,” he explained. He added that the demand for the Grass network is undeniable and that the protocol’s future looks incredibly promising.

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Fourth is Spectral (SPEC), one of the leading AI agent infrastructure plays, allowing anyone to deploy and engage with AI agents. “With Syntax V2, you’ll be able to interact with sentient agents with personalities, which trade on Hyperliquid in accordance with the community’s input. It’s an interesting mix of fun, collaboration, and speculation,” Deutscher commented.

Fifth is Mode Network (MODE), which, although known as a Layer 2 (L2) solution, has been building AI technology for over a year. “They are leading the future of DeFi by facilitating the deployment of AI-driven agents, which will autonomously farm yield and optimize your portfolio on your behalf,” he said.

Sixth on the list is NeuralAI (NEURAL), connecting AI and gaming—two of crypto’s biggest adoption drivers. “They just announced SentiOS, which supplies autonomous AI to create, populate, and bring virtual worlds and economies to life,” Deutscher mentioned.

Seventh is PinLinkAi, where Deutscher is a strategic advisor and investor. PinLink is the first real-world asset-tokenized DePIN platform, empowering the fractional ownership of yield-bearing assets, physical or digital. “They have also recently partnered with Akash, Pendle, FetchAI, OpenSea, Alephium, ParallelAI, and more. Their business development is on another level,” he praised.

Eighth is Zero1 Labs (DEAI), another project where he serves as a strategic advisor and investor. Zero1 Labs enables innovators to build decentralized AI applications with fully homomorphic encryption, ensuring secure data governance and complete privacy. “Think of it as a pick-and-shovel AI infrastructure play. With a market cap of around $76 million, this is one of my ‘higher upside’ AI bets,” Deutscher revealed. He noted the debut of Seraphnet, the first of many projects planned through their incubator.

Ninth is Empyreal, also a project where he is an advisor and investor. As a believer in AI agents, Deutscher highlights that Empyreal provides AI infrastructure to turn social media messages into on-chain actions like trades and swaps through their Simulacrum platform. “It’s super cool,” he added.

Tenth is enqAI (ENQAI), another project where Deutscher is involved as an advisor and investor. EnqAI is a decentralized large language model network solving the bias and censorship issues common to centralized AI. “Despite its $20 million market cap, enqAI already has 20,000 monthly active users across 50-plus countries and has already handled over one million API requests with minimal downtime or lags,” he highlighted.

As a bonus, Deutscher mentions Guru Network (GURU), where he is also an advisor and investor. With its Layer 3 mainnet now live, Guru powers AI processors and chatbots with a decentralized exchange, stablecoin support, bridges, and base chain integration. “I’ve been working with Guru to launch a Telegram and Discord mini-app, delivering a full turnkey solution for DeFi on Telegram. It’s going to be very cool!” he exclaimed.

Deutscher emphasizes the importance of risk management. He reveals that his personal portfolio balance is approximately 70% large caps and 30% small to mid caps. “I recommend that you do your own research, and if you do decide to take a position in any of these protocols, make sure to manage position sizing and risk in line with your goals and overall strategy,” he advised.

At press time, TAO traded at $630.80.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com