DeAI News covers two industries that both lean on the word "token." They mean very different things by it.
In AI, a token is a unit of text. Models read and write in small chunks of text called tokens, often a word or part of one. The more tokens, the more work the model does.
That makes tokens the meter for AI. Usage and prices are counted in tokens, and speed in tokens per second. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin runs an open-source model on his own laptop at 90 tokens per second.
Tokens are even turning into a policy lever. Billionaire investor Mark Cuban floated a tax on AI usage of less than 50 cents per million tokens, which he projects would raise $10 billion a year.
Usage limits are also how AI companies raise prices. OpenAI cut the usage included in its $200 Pro plan roughly in half. YouTube creator Alex Finn, who focuses on AI coding tools, read it as a sign that metered pricing will replace subscriptions: "The days of AI subsidies are coming to an end."
In crypto, a token is a digital asset. It's issued on a blockchain, and people can hold it, trade it or lock it up to earn rewards. Its price moves with the market.
Many decentralized AI projects issue their own. Privacy-focused AI platform Venice's VVV token hit a record $34.51 on Sept. 21.
These tokens can swing hard. Crypto asset manager Grayscale reported that the crypto AI sector gained 54% in September, double the broader crypto market, leaving it worth roughly $15 billion.
Where the two meet. Some projects use one kind of token to pay for the other. Venice holders lock up VVV to get access to AI computing capacity, and blockchain project NEAR lets users pay for AI with staking rewards instead of a credit card.
How to tell them apart. If it's counting text a model reads or writes, it's an AI token. If it has a price and a ticker symbol, it's a crypto token.
Read more: Ethereum's Buterin runs AI agent locally with open-source Qwen model, Signal messaging · Cuban floats 'AI token tax' to encourage energy savings, raise $10B · OpenAI cuts usage in half on $200 plan, portending higher AI prices · Privacy AI platform Venice's VVV token hits record high · Crypto AI sector surges 54% in September, Grayscale says
HOW AI WAS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PIECE: I drafted this explainer with Claude, which pulled the source stories from the DeAI News archive through the Distro Publisher MCP connector and applied the Distro house-style rules. I checked every quote and figure against the original stories.