Andrew

Adventurer, traveler, food/wine lover, PE/VC investor, startup advisor, blockchain enthusiast...no financial advice

[Andrew @financewitcher]

@axaxia92 Legendary movie indeed …master piece 👌🏻

[Andrew @financewitcher]

$VVV 🚀🚀🚀 #AIprivacy

[Chain INK @0xchainink]

$VVV : Review 📜

What if one of Bitcoin's earliest advocates built the private, uncensored AI platform that ChatGPT should have been, and then burned 42% of the token supply just to prove he wasn't in it for the money?

Meet Venice AI - a privacy-first generative AI platform where your conversations are never logged, your data is never stored, and the models are never censored.

2 million+ users. 50,000+ daily active. 42.8% of supply permanently burned. Fiat revenue buying and burning tokens monthly. Built on Base by Erik Voorhees, the man who created ShapeShift and has been in Bitcoin since before most people knew what a blockchain was.

Let's explore how Venice is building the AI platform the cypherpunks would have designed. 👇

⚪ Venice at a Glance

Venice AI is a privacy-focused decentralized inference platform designed as an alternative to centralized AI systems such as OpenAI and Google Gemini. Unlike traditional AI platforms that store user data, impose restrictive moderation systems, and collect behavioral data, Venice positions itself as an uncensored, privacy-preserving infrastructure layer for AI.

The ecosystem uses a dual-token system: $VVV (staking, governance, burns, yield) and $DIEM (AI compute access). VVV launched January 27, 2025 on Base with a genesis supply of 100 million tokens.

As of May 2026, $VVV trades around $18 with a market cap of approximately $800M. Since December 2025, VVV has surged more than 1,500%. ATH was $23.45. 2 million+ registered users and 8.8 million monthly visits. Venice has now permanently destroyed approximately 42.8% of the total supply.

Marketplace Insight: VVV was listed on Robinhood for spot trading in May 2026, surging 17-22% on the announcement. Whale accumulation continues with large holders steadily buying through the $19 resistance level. The Sub Burn Program rates doubled in April 2026. Annual token emissions are being cut from 8M to 3M by July 2026. When a platform with 2M users burns 42% of its supply and then doubles its burn rate, the supply math gets very simple.

⚪ Mission

Venice's mission is to provide private, uncensored, and open-source generative AI to everyone. "In a world of growing AI integration into our daily lives, we believe it is crucial that humans are able to interact with machine intelligence without centralized surveillance and control," Voorhees said. Venice exists because ChatGPT logs your data, censors your prompts, and sends your conversations to corporate servers. Venice does none of that.

🔵 A Brief History

Venice AI was founded in May 2024 by Erik Voorhees and Teana Baker-Taylor, reaching 1.3M+ users by March 2026.

Erik Voorhees is one of the most important figures in Bitcoin history. He's been in the space since 2011, founded ShapeShift (one of the earliest crypto exchanges), and has been a vocal advocate for financial privacy and individual sovereignty for over a decade. He self-funded Venice entirely, with no need for outside capital.

Venice launched in May 2024 offering free access to open-source AI models for text, image, and code generation, with no account required for basic use. By late 2024, it had grown to 450,000+ registered users and 50,000 daily active users making 15,000+ inference requests per hour.
VVV launched on January 27, 2025, with 50% of the genesis supply airdropped: 25% to 100,000+ early Venice users and 25% to the broader crypto-AI community on Base. Within two hours, VVV reached a $1 billion fully diluted valuation. Coinbase listed VVV within hours of launch.

In March 2025, the Genesis Burn destroyed 33.68 million unclaimed airdrop tokens, permanently removing a third of the supply. In August 2025, Venice launched the DIEM token, creating a dual-token system where DIEM provides AI compute access while VVV handles staking, governance, and value capture. In May 2025, Venice launched a $27 million Incentive Fund for developers building private AI applications.

Venice rolled out new encrypted AI interface models in March 2026, adding Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) modes via partnerships with NEAR AI Cloud and Phala Network.

Four distinct privacy modes now let users choose their level of data protection.

By May 2026, VVV listed on Robinhood and Crypto com, the Sub Burn Program doubled its rate, and annual emissions were cut from 8M to a planned 3M by July 2026. StrikeRobot partnership provides AI infrastructure for humanoid robots, expanding Venice beyond chat into physical AI applications.

🔵 Ecosystem Narrative

Venice's ecosystem is built on one radical idea: AI should be private by default, uncensored by design, and owned by its users. Every product decision flows from this principle.

Key dynamics include:

➛ Four privacy modes give users verifiable privacy, not just promises: anonymous proxy access, zero-data-retention processing, TEE (hardware-secured enclaves via NEAR AI Cloud and Phala Network with cryptographic attestation), and end-to-end encryption.

➛ Dual-token system: VVV for staking, governance, yield, and burns. DIEM for AI compute access, decoupling compute costs from token price volatility. Staking 100 VVV unlocks Pro features.

➛ Sub Burn Program uses fiat revenue to buy VVV from the open market and permanently burn it. Rates doubled in April 2026. This creates a direct link between platform revenue and token scarcity.

➛ 42.8% of original supply burned. Genesis Burn (33.68M tokens) + ongoing Sub Burns + emission cuts (8M to 3M by July 2026) = one of the most aggressive deflationary models in crypto.

➛ Open-source model access including GPT 5.2, DeepSeek, and leading open-source LLMs. Text, image, video, and code generation. No centralized censorship on outputs.

➛ Venice API enables developers and AI agents to access private inference programmatically, turning Venice into infrastructure, not just a consumer product.

➛ $27M Venice Incentive Fund supports developers building private AI apps, agents, integrations, model tooling, and dApps on the Venice API.

➛ StrikeRobot partnership extends Venice's AI infrastructure to humanoid robots, expanding the use case from digital chat to physical AI applications.

⚪ Token Utilities

$VVV powers the private AI economy:

➛ Staking & Pro Access - Stake 100 VVV to unlock Pro features: faster processing, latest experimental models, higher-resolution image generation, and enhanced API access.

➛ Sub Burn (Revenue-Driven Deflation) - Fiat revenue from Pro subscriptions buys and burns VVV monthly. Rates doubled April 2026. Direct link between platform usage and token scarcity.

➛ Emissions Yield - Stakers earn yield from token emissions. APR varies based on platform usage and utilization rate. Emissions being cut from 8M to 3M annually by July 2026.

➛ Governance - VVV holders participate in ecosystem governance decisions.

➛ API Compute Access - Developers and AI agents use VVV/DIEM to access Venice's private inference API programmatically.

➛ DIEM (Companion Token) - Provides stable-priced AI compute access decoupled from VVV price volatility. Developers budget in USD terms while stakers benefit from VVV appreciation.

⚪ Key Features

➛ Privacy-First AI - Four verifiable privacy modes: anonymous proxy, zero-data-retention, TEE with cryptographic attestation, and end-to-end encryption. Not promises. Provable privacy.

➛ Uncensored Models - Access GPT 5.2, DeepSeek, and open-source LLMs without centralized content moderation. "If you want to use DeepSeek but don't want all your convos going to the CCP, use Venice."

➛ 42.8% Supply Burned - Most aggressive burn ratio in the AI token space. Genesis Burn + Sub Burns + emission cuts. Supply is actively shrinking.

➛ 2M+ Users, 50K+ DAU - Real platform with real users making real inference requests. 8.8M monthly visits. Not speculative infrastructure.

➛ Dual-Token (VVV + DIEM) - VVV for value capture, DIEM for compute access. Decouples developer costs from token price volatility.

➛ $27M Developer Fund - Funding private AI apps, agents, integrations, and infrastructure on Venice API.

➛ Robinhood & Crypto com Listed - Tier-1 retail exchange access as of May 2026.

➛ Erik Voorhees Founded - ShapeShift creator, Bitcoin OG since 2011, self-funded Venice with zero VC. One of crypto's most respected founders.

🔵 Meet the Venice Team

Venice is led by two of the most credentialed people in the intersection of crypto and fintech, one a cypherpunk Bitcoin OG, the other a former VP at the company behind USDC.

▶️ Core Members:

➛ Erik Voorhees [ @erikvoorhees ] - Founder & CEO | One of the most important figures in Bitcoin history. In the space since 2011. Founded ShapeShift, one of the earliest and most influential crypto exchanges. Vocal advocate for financial privacy, individual sovereignty, and uncensored technology. Self-funded Venice entirely with no outside investors. Has been publicly buying tokenized gold ($23M+ across 28 addresses), signaling conviction in both crypto and hard assets.

▶️ Former:

➛ Teana Baker-Taylor [ @TeanaTaylor ] - Previous Co-Founder | Now CEO of BasedAI. Former VP at Circle (USDC issuer), previously worked at UK HM Treasury. Board advisor to CryptoUK Association. Contributed to Venice's early growth and institutional positioning before departing.

🔵 Ratings

➛ Use Case: ★★★★★ (5/5) - Venice is the most important consumer AI product in crypto. Not another "AI token" with no product. A real platform with 2M+ users, 50K+ DAU, and 8.8M monthly visits using GPT 5.2, DeepSeek, and open-source models with verifiable privacy. Four privacy modes including TEE with cryptographic attestation and E2E encryption. Uncensored inference that ChatGPT and Gemini won't provide. Venice API turning privacy AI into developer infrastructure. StrikeRobot extending to humanoid robots. In a world where every centralized AI platform logs your data, censors your prompts, and feeds your conversations to corporate training datasets, Venice is the product that cypherpunks, developers, and privacy-conscious users actually want. And 2 million people are already using it.

➛ Tokenomics: ★★★★✦ (4.5/5) - Venice has one of the most aggressive deflationary models in all of crypto. 42.8% of original supply permanently burned. Genesis Burn removed 33.68M tokens. Sub Burn Program uses real fiat revenue to buy and burn VVV monthly (rates doubled April 2026). Annual emissions being cut from 8M to 3M by July 2026. No presale. 50% airdropped to community. VVV surged 1,500%+ since December 2025. The dual-token system (VVV + DIEM) elegantly separates value capture from compute pricing. The 0.5 deduction is for the remaining team/Venice allocation vesting through 2026 (potential sell pressure), and the fact that despite the burns, the token is still emitting new supply (even if decreasing), meaning it's not yet net deflationary on an annualized basis.

➛ Audits: ★★★★ (4/5) - Venice holds a 4.2 star rating on CertiK, validating the project's security posture. The privacy architecture is genuinely innovative: TEE via NEAR AI Cloud and Phala Network with remote attestation, E2E encryption, and zero-data-retention processing. The codebase runs on Base (inheriting Ethereum L2 security). Coinbase listed VVV within hours of launch, implying institutional-grade due diligence. The $27M Incentive Fund and API infrastructure show real engineering investment. The 1-point deduction is because the platform is barely a year old, the privacy modes are novel and haven't had years of adversarial testing at scale, and for a platform handling private AI conversations for 2M+ users, continued security hardening and more visible formal auditing of the inference infrastructure would strengthen confidence.

➛ Community: ★★★★✦ (4.5/5) - Venice has built a community that spans crypto natives, AI enthusiasts, privacy advocates, and developers. Erik Voorhees' personal reputation as a Bitcoin OG brings immediate credibility and a loyal following. 2M+ registered users and 50K+ DAU are real product metrics, not speculative wallet counts. The Robinhood listing expanded retail access massively. Whale accumulation through the $19 resistance shows institutional conviction. The $27M developer fund is attracting builders. VVV's 1,500% surge since December 2025 generated massive organic attention. The 0.5 deduction is that the community is still young (VVV launched January 2025), and the intersection of AI users and crypto holders is still a niche audience. Most Venice users likely care about the AI product, not the token, which creates a gap between product adoption and token community depth.

🔵 Conclusion

Venice AI is what happens when one of Bitcoin's earliest and most respected advocates decides that AI privacy is the next great battle for individual sovereignty, and then self-funds the entire solution himself.
Erik Voorhees didn't raise VC money. He didn't do a presale. He airdropped 50% to the community, burned 42.8% of the supply, and built a product that 2 million people are actually using every day.

The Sub Burn Program converts real subscription revenue into permanent token removal. Annual emissions are being cut from 8M to 3M. The supply is actively shrinking while the user base is actively growing. That's the math that matters.

The privacy innovation is real: four verifiable modes including TEE with cryptographic attestation and end-to-end encryption. The product is real: GPT 5.2, DeepSeek, text, image, video, and code generation with no logging and no censorship. The adoption is real: 2M+ users, 50K+ DAU, 8.8M monthly visits. The institutional validation is real: Robinhood, Crypto com, Coinbase all listed.

The risks are clear: the platform is barely a year old, the team is small (two founders), the privacy modes are novel and haven't been adversarially tested at scale, no formal third-party audit has been published, and the AI space moves so fast that today's innovation is tomorrow's baseline. The token still emits new supply, even if decreasing.

But here's the fundamental question the market is wrestling with: in a world where OpenAI logs everything, Google trains on your data, and governments demand backdoors into AI systems, how much is a private, uncensored AI platform worth? Venice has 2 million users who already answered that question with their wallets.

And with 42.8% of supply burned, emissions halving, and fiat revenue buying more tokens to destroy every month, the answer is getting more expensive to arrive at.

[Andrew @financewitcher]

@bundeskanzler Alles richtig…aber WANN kommen den nun endlich echte Reformen??? Die Leute wollen VERÄNDERUNG! Ich habe Sie gewählt, weil ich dachte, Sie sind ein Macher…?!

[Erik Voorhees @ErikVoorhees]

If your agent interacts with blockchains, use the new Venice crypto RPC and save a bunch of money

(agent can use same API key for every LLM model as well...)

[Andrew @financewitcher]

$STRK amazing tech - future proof 🚀 🚀 🚀

[Starknet (Privacy arc) 🥷 @Starknet]

The Shinobi upgrade marks a new era for our ecosystem.

It transforms Starknet from a high-performance rollup into an ultra-high-performance privacy engine.

Privacy at planetary scale needs the right architecture, Starknet now has it.

[Der Mutbürger 🇩🇪🕊 @GerkenSascha]

Deutsches Steuergeld in nur 14 Sekunden erklärt.

[𝒵𝒾𝓀✯ @_Gottalovezik]

So basically, companies pay Youtube to show ads and we pay Youtube to not show ads

[Easy @NotSoEasyMoney]

Will Base end up being the home for AI Tokens...?

Venice Token on Base chain not a meme, it's a privacy AI platform, they run OpenSource AI models on their platform.

Zero Logging
Zero Censorship
&& $VVV powers the API access for the platform itself.

Why it's pumping
• Runs open-source LLMs like DeepSeek R1 with ZERO logging
• No censorship, no data collection, it is the anti-ChatGPT
• Binance Alpha Spotlight, which is leading to if exchange listing speculation is real
• Base chain = Coinbase ecosystem alignment
• VVV is the utility token for API access, actual demand driver for the token itself

The numbers
+27% today, doubled in a week ($3.88 → $7.55)
$335M mcap, $65M volume
+720% off December ATL ($0.92)
Still -66% from ATH ($22.58)

Is the top near?
Or is this real?

[Andrew @financewitcher]

$VVV 🚀🚀🚀

[CoinGecko @coingecko]

$VVV saw a 7.5x growth in the past 3 months, pumping 18% today to $294M market cap.

Here's why it pumped:

🟢 Venice cut annual emissions to 6M VVV/year, improving scarcity.

🟢 VVV was integrated across several DeFi platforms as utility:
→ Aerodrome: Liquidity
→ Morpho: Collateral
→ Plena: Gasless swaps

[𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 - 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 - 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞⭐️❤️ @NgocThach74]

TOP 16 Legendary Actors (70s & 80s) 🎥 Then vs Now

[Gublo @Gubloinvestor]

If Trump was born in other countries 😄

[Wall Street Mav @WallStreetMav]

2024 movie producer: "We need $200 million and Leonardo DiCaprio"

2026 two guys with an AI account: "we should made this 2 hour movie over the weekend. It has Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Sydney Sweeney and Taylor Swift in it. Everyone can watch it."

[Andrew @financewitcher]

Exactly! Thank you 😂

[Andrew @financewitcher]

@AskVenice Amazing 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Andrew @financewitcher]

@AskVenice Awsome great work 👌🏻

[Andrew @financewitcher]

@AskVenice Amazing well done 👌🏻

[Andrew @financewitcher]

$TAO #AI 🚀🚀🚀

[Michaël van de Poppe @CryptoMichNL]

Personally, one of the most interesting assets in the space: $TAO.

Has had its halving in December, has seen a harsh correction after that.

Now, it's back above the 21-Day MA and, more importantly, it's grinding back above the previous support level.

As long as the level between $250-260 holds for support, my main scenario would be that it runs back to $500 in the coming 2-3 months.

[Michaël van de Poppe @CryptoMichNL]

Personally, one of the most interesting assets in the space: $TAO.

Has had its halving in December, has seen a harsh correction after that.

Now, it's back above the 21-Day MA and, more importantly, it's grinding back above the previous support level.

As long as the level between $250-260 holds for support, my main scenario would be that it runs back to $500 in the coming 2-3 months.

[Andrew @financewitcher]

$VVV 👌🏻🚀🚀🚀

[Erik Voorhees @ErikVoorhees]

100 VVV = Venice Pro Account

1. Buy on Coinbase or Aerodrome
2. Visit https://t.co/La7K6SlDhG and stake
3. Enjoy Pro indefinitely

When you're done, feel free to sell the VVV.

If price is flat, you got Pro for free. If price went up, then you actually got paid for Pro 🌅

@AskVenice

[Erik Voorhees @ErikVoorhees]

100 VVV = Venice Pro Account

1. Buy on Coinbase or Aerodrome
2. Visit https://t.co/La7K6SlDhG and stake
3. Enjoy Pro indefinitely

When you're done, feel free to sell the VVV.

If price is flat, you got Pro for free. If price went up, then you actually got paid for Pro 🌅

@AskVenice