Venice VVV token hits record $34 as its privacy-AI staking model draws fresh bets

Venice (VVV), the cryptocurrency associated with the privacy-oriented AI platform Venice started by Erik Voorhees, founder of ShapeShift, peaked at a record $34.51 on September 21 but then came down to around $31. Thus, as of now, VVV is approximately 3,000% higher than the low of $0.92 reached in December 2025 (note that this is a low and high price comparison, not a comparison of total annual performance) and has a market capitalization of approximately $1.5 billion. Decrypt said VVV is the third-largest cryptocurrency by AI application, behind Near and Bittensor’s TAO. However, rankings may vary per methodology with Internet Computer ranked ahead of VVV, according to CoinGecko. The question remains if the demand for private AI would sustain the token after the initial excitement is over. Why VVV is an access key, not a stake in the company VVV does not provide a claim on the ownership of Venice AI. It is an ERC-20 token on Base with utility related to compute access. Users can stake VVV to earn yield and gain access to Venice Pro, according to Venice’s description. By staking 100 VVV, users can claim Pro access with unlimited text prompts and use of models related to images and videos. The DIEM twist that behaves like a subscription VVV stakers can also lock their staked tokens in order to mint DIEM. According to Venice, one staked DIEM serves as the equivalent of $1 daily API credits that are refreshed daily. In July, Venice increased the target DIEM supply from 38,000 to 40,000 in four steps: 38,500 on August 3, 39,000 on August 17, 39,500 on August 31, and finally 40,000 on September 14. Cutting emissions while burning the float The same tokenomics update lowered the yearly expected VVV emissions from 3 million tokens to 2 million tokens in two installments: 2.5 million from September 1 and 2 million from October 1. Venice also launched an API-credit burn, allocating $5 of each $100 spent on credits to the acquisition of VVV tokens in the secondary market and their subsequent burning, in addition to the already existing burns funded by subscription revenues. Venice VVV Price Surge, Emissions Cuts and DIEM Supply Expansion $65 million in equity, and why that is not the token Venice raised a $65 million Series A led by Dragonfly at a $1 billion equity valuation in July. The Block reported that investors received an 8.98% equity stake, a vesting grant of 1.5 million VVV and warrants to buy another 5 million VVV over eight years. Voorhees framed Venice’s token position more directly: “Venice, the company, remains the largest holder of VVV, owning more than 30 million out of today’s 80 million supply.