The State of the Market

Total Crypto Market Cap: down 7.2% this week to $2.24T
Total AI Sector Market Cap: down 10.3% this week to $28.3B

This week, geopolitical tensions int the Middle East took center stage, sparking significant sharp sell offs in risk assets.

Bitcoin copped an uppercut after finally breaking through $65k, dropping back down below $62k in light of the news. Traditional markets weren't spared either, with the S&P 500 declining by 0.84%. In contrast, gold saw a rise of over 1%—we’re wondering, when will people start to see Bitcoin as a safe haven asset?

Likely exacerbating BTC’s decline, this week we also saw significant outflows from spot BTC ETFs—the largest since the beginning of September.

Turning to the Decentralized AI sector, it has been a challenging week for most projects. The sector fell further than the total crypto market cap, but only by a small margin.

However, amid the broader sector decline, Bittensor stood out as an exception. TAO managed to buck the trend, posting a 7% increase, currently trading around $580. As we’re sure you’ve seen on the timeline, the die hard Bittensor community has been out in force over the past few weeks, so it is good to see it isn’t just talk and supporters are holding strong.

Adding to Bittensor’s strength, Grayscale's AI Fund announced it had significantly increased its allocation to TAO, jumping from 2.6% to 29.55%. Over at Onchain Outpost, we have noticed significant institutional and VC interest in Bittensor, so seeing this move by Grayscale further signals that TAO is one to watch going into Q4.