Crust Network Partners with Phoenix AI to Enhance Decentralized Storage for AI Applications

Bittensor (TAO) has experienced a significant price surge of up to 33% following Grayscale's recent filing of a Form 10 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the Grayscale Bittensor Trust. If this filing is approved, the trust will begin reporting like a public company, which includes submitting 10-K and 10-Q forms with audited financials. This development could shorten private placement lockups from 12 months to 6 months and facilitate over-the-counter (OTC) quotations. Such regulatory clarity is expected to attract new liquidity into TAO, legitimizing it for institutional investors seeking exposure to decentralized AI infrastructure without the complexities of custody management. The technical analysis of TAO indicates a strong rebound from a support level of $315, with the price now holding above $410, marking its highest level in weeks. This upward movement has confirmed a breakout from a year-long falling-wedge pattern, suggesting bullish momentum. Key momentum indicators, such as the RSI and MACD, support this positive outlook, indicating that the rally is primarily driven by spot trading. Immediate support levels are established at $380, $355, and $327, with the potential for a run towards $500 if the price maintains above $405. Institutional interest in TAO has been on the rise, with significant acquisitions reported since July. Companies like TAO Synergies and xTAO have collectively acquired approximately 83,649 TAO, valued at around $26–27 million, with some of these holdings staked for double-digit yields. This accumulation is expected to reduce circulating supply and strengthen the asset's market position. Overall, the combination of Grayscale's SEC filing, ongoing institutional accumulation, and positive technical signals paints a bullish outlook for Bittensor (TAO), with analysts suggesting that if momentum continues, targets between $700 and $900 could be achievable in the near future.

TAO Synergies, a company focused on the Bittensor ecosystem, has successfully raised $11 million through a Series E financing agreement. This funding was secured via a securities purchase agreement that involved the sale of 11,000 shares of newly issued Series E convertible preferred stock, each valued at $1,000. The financing aims to bolster the firm's strategic investments in Bittensor tokens and other revenue-generating opportunities. Notably, the agreement saw participation from existing investors and a new partner, Digital Currency Group (DCG), and is expected to close around October 15, 2025, pending standard closing requirements. James Altucher, the digital asset strategy advisor for TAO Synergies, played a significant role in this financing deal. He emphasized that the funding would empower the company to continue its strategic investments in Bittensor tokens and related projects. The firm is committed to staking the TAO tokens it acquires, which not only generates rewards from the Bittensor network but also enhances its stake in this burgeoning ecosystem. This strategic pivot reflects TAO Synergies' transition from its previous identity as Synaptogenix to a player in the cryptocurrency and AI sectors, aligning with its new ticker symbol, TAOX. Following the announcement of the financing deal, TAO Synergies experienced a remarkable 38.46% surge in its stock price, reaching $9.54 per share. This increase occurred after market hours, and over the past month, the stock has climbed 60%, indicating heightened investor interest. With a current market capitalization of $33.27 million, TAO Synergies stands as the largest publicly traded holder of Bittensor, holding over $18 million in TAO tokens. The recent funding positions the firm to strengthen its presence in the Bittensor ecosystem while exploring further growth opportunities in the intersection of AI and blockchain technologies.

The Bittensor TAO price is currently experiencing a pivotal moment, suggesting a potential bullish trend that could shape its long-term trajectory. After enduring weeks of consolidation and volatility, TAO has recently attempted to break out of a descending triangle pattern on the weekly price chart. This week's price movements are particularly crucial, as TAO's effort to surpass the upper boundary of the triangle indicates a resurgence of momentum. However, the sustainability of this breakout will depend on whether TAO can maintain its position above this critical level by the end of the week. If successful, short-term targets around $470 seem attainable, while long-term forecasts suggest a price of $770 or more by the quarter's conclusion. The recent market turmoil, characterized by a significant liquidation event, has set the stage for TAO's recovery. The market experienced a dramatic shakeout, leading to the liquidation of numerous long positions across exchanges, resulting in millions lost in leveraged trades within a single day. Retail traders who had stop orders above $250 faced substantial losses, while more disciplined long-term holders managed to weather the storm by keeping their stops below $240. Interestingly, this capitulation phase may have inadvertently benefited TAO, as the market quickly absorbed the sell-off, indicating robust institutional demand. Following this, TAO rebounded impressively from a low of $245 to a peak of $429 within days. A significant catalyst for this recovery was Grayscale's announcement regarding its new Bittensor Trust ($TAO) filing with the SEC. This filing represents a crucial step towards making TAO an SEC-reporting asset, enhancing its transparency and institutional credibility. Grayscale plans to facilitate public over-the-counter (OTC) trading of TAO, reducing the private placement holding period from 12 months to just six. This move not only improves liquidity but also brings TAO closer to being an exchange-traded product (ETP). The timing of this announcement coincided with TAO's technical recovery, boosting market confidence and contributing to a 45% intraday price surge, bringing the current market cap to $4.17 billion with a trading volume exceeding $582 million. As the price chart holds above the breakout level, the path to $470 appears increasingly likely, with all eyes now on TAO's ability to maintain this momentum and transform the technical breakout into a sustained rally.

In the third quarter of 2024, IoTeX has marked significant achievements within the rapidly growing DePIN sector, further establishing its leadership in the ecosystem. The launch of IoTeX 2.0 stands out as a pivotal moment, introducing a modular infrastructure that supports verifiable DePIN data. This upgrade is designed to facilitate the development of DePIN projects, making it easier for developers to build and scale their solutions. Alongside this, IoTeX has formed strategic partnerships with major industry players like OKX, Solana, and Polygon, enhancing its visibility and collaborative potential in the blockchain space. Following a successful $50 million funding round in Q2, the network has seen a surge in user engagement, with over 218 projects now built on the IoTeX platform, including 51 dedicated to DePIN. The IoTeX network's on-chain activity has also experienced remarkable growth, with daily transactions reaching 26,100, a 107% increase from the previous quarter. The ecosystem supports over 100 tokens and boasts more than 100,000 monthly active users. The rise in staking activity is notable, with over 3.8 billion $IOTX staked, representing approximately 41% of the circulating supply. Additionally, the DePINscan platform has registered over 280 DePIN projects and 18 million devices, solidifying its role as a key data aggregation tool in the industry. Looking ahead, IoTeX is set to launch several innovative products, including ioID and W3bstream, which aim to enhance the verifiability of DePIN devices and provide zero-knowledge proofs for developers. The upcoming Get GOATed Season 2 event is expected to attract even more community members, with substantial rewards on offer. As IoTeX continues to expand its ecosystem and partnerships, it is poised to play a crucial role in the future of decentralized infrastructure and real-world applications in the blockchain space.

Akash, a decentralized compute project founded by Greg Osuri, has announced plans to deprecate its current Cosmos SDK-based chain and migrate to a new network that can better secure its operations. This decision marks the beginning of a public evaluation process for potential candidates both within and outside the Cosmos ecosystem. While the specific destination chain has not yet been disclosed, Osuri emphasized the importance of strong security, a vibrant community, deep liquidity, and growth potential in selecting the new home for Akash, which will maintain IBC compatibility. Originally launched as a Cosmos appchain, Akash operates a decentralized marketplace that connects AI and cloud buyers with independent providers of GPU and compute capacity. The recent Mainnet 6 upgrade introduced Nvidia GPUs, allowing users to benefit from lower costs compared to traditional centralized cloud services. Osuri also reassured users regarding staking concerns, indicating that while staking may appear to be disappearing, it is actually evolving into a more advanced model. He mentioned that Solana is a strong contender for Akash's new network, but the team will be cautious in making their final decision. This shift to a new base-layer represents a significant architectural change for a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN). Osuri's criteria for the migration reflect a broader search for scalable solutions as demand for AI compute rises. The Block's data indicates that DePIN is becoming a multi-billion-dollar asset class, with web3 cloud and AI compute identified as leading segments. However, challenges such as hardware access, network scalability, and regulatory uncertainties remain. The Akash team has not set a timeline for the migration, but they plan to engage the community in an open discussion about the trade-offs involved in the decision-making process.

The cryptocurrency market has recently experienced a significant recovery, bouncing back from a sharp decline that wiped out approximately $900 billion in value. This downturn was triggered by President Trump's threat of imposing 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, which led to Bitcoin plummeting to near $100,000 and resulted in around $7 billion in liquidations within just an hour. However, macro investor Raoul Pal described this event as a typical "flash crash," which often clears excess leverage from the market and sets the stage for a subsequent rally. As of now, Bitcoin has rebounded to over $115,000, while Ethereum has also regained its position above $4,100. Among the cryptocurrencies benefiting from this recovery are Mantle (MNT) and Bittensor (TAO). Mantle has surged by 31% in the past day, reaching $2.20, with trading volumes increasing by 117% to over $1.1 billion. The project has seen a significant rise in on-chain activity, with active addresses doubling last week, driven by demand for staking and bridge inflows. Meanwhile, Bittensor has climbed 33% to around $420, bolstered by Grayscale's filing for a Bittensor Trust and a $10 million investment from DCG. Both projects are at the forefront of the decentralized AI narrative, attracting renewed investor interest. As the market shifts towards altcoin rotation, several projects are emerging as potential beneficiaries of the ongoing bullish conditions. Bitcoin Hyper (HYPER) aims to address Bitcoin's scalability issues with a Layer-2 network utilizing zk-rollups, while Synthetix (SNX) is making a comeback with its Perps V3 launch, allowing users to trade synthetic assets. Additionally, Best Wallet Token (BEST) is gaining traction with its non-custodial wallet that supports over 60 blockchains, offering unique features like no seed phrases and high staking yields. These projects are worth watching as they align with the current trends in the crypto market.