Venice (VVV)

Overview

Venice is a generative artificial intelligence platform with a crypto token called Venice Token, or VVV. The platform gives people a place to chat with AI models, create images and other media, and build software that uses AI through an application programming interface, or API. VVV connects that service to the Base blockchain: holders can stake the token for benefits within Venice, including a way to create transferable rights to AI computing capacity. (venice.ai)

The idea behind VVV

Many AI services charge for each request a developer sends. Venice offers a different route. A VVV holder can stake tokens and lock the resulting staked position to mint DIEM, a second token representing ongoing API access. One DIEM, when staked, provides one dollar’s worth of Venice API credit each day. This makes VVV useful to developers and automated AI agents that need repeated access to AI models. (venice.ai)

History & Team

From AI app to token ecosystem

Erik Voorhees founded Venice in 2024. The service launched in May of that year, and its API followed in November. Voorhees had previously founded the crypto exchange ShapeShift. Venice’s early team included chief operating officer Teana Baker-Taylor, whose earlier work included roles at HSBC, Circle, and Binance. The project introduced VVV on January 27, 2025, after the app and API were already operating. (venice.ai)

Venice began without a token presale or outside venture funding. Its funding history changed in July 2026, when the company announced its first outside investment: a $65 million Series A led by Dragonfly, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, F-Prime, North Island Ventures, and others. That investment went to the company; it was separate from the original VVV airdrop. (venice.ai)

The token launch gave Venice a way to link its AI service with users and builders on Base. Some VVV went to people who had used the app, while another portion went to crypto and AI communities. This approach placed tokens with potential users of the service as well as with the company developing it. (venice.ai)

Technology & How It Works

Base handles tokens; Venice handles AI

VVV is an ERC-20 token on Base, an Ethereum layer-two network. Base records token transfers, staking activity, and the smart-contract steps used to mint DIEM. The AI work happens through Venice’s app and API: a user sends a request, a selected model processes it, and Venice returns the result. Keeping these jobs separate lets developers use familiar blockchain wallets while accessing AI models through a standard software interface. (venice.ai)

The path from VVV to API access has several steps. First, a holder stakes VVV and receives a staked position called sVVV. They can then lock sVVV to mint DIEM. The amount of sVVV needed depends on the protocol’s mint rate. Staking DIEM activates its daily API credit. DIEM can also be transferred to another holder; to unlock the original sVVV, the minter burns the corresponding amount of DIEM. (venice.ai)

How privacy works

Venice stores conversation history on the user’s device and relays requests through a proxy without keeping prompt-and-response logs for normal inference. The selected model determines an additional privacy layer. In Private mode, Venice says prompts are processed without retention by its infrastructure or contracted partners. Anonymous mode hides a user’s identity from an outside model provider, though that provider receives the prompt. Pro users can also select supported models using a trusted execution environment, or an end-to-end encrypted mode that decrypts prompts inside such an environment. (docs.venice.ai)

These options give users a choice between model selection and different ways of handling data. They also show why the privacy setting matters: the protections attached to one model may differ from those attached to another. (venice.ai)

Tokenomics & Utility

Distribution and supply changes

Venice created 100 million VVV at launch. The original allocation was 50% for Venice users and AI communities, 35% for Venice.ai, 10% for an ecosystem incentive fund, and 5% for liquidity provision. Within Venice.ai’s allocation, 10 million tokens were designated for the team, with part available at launch and the remainder released over 24 months. The launch had no presale. (venice.ai)

That starting figure is best understood as a launch figure rather than a permanent supply limit. After the airdrop claim period ended, Venice burned unclaimed tokens and other tokens in two transactions totaling 33,539,739 VVV on March 12, 2025. New VVV is also created as staking rewards. Venice has reduced its yearly issuance rate in stages; its August 2026 update set out a reduction to 2.5 million VVV per year on September 1, followed by a planned reduction to 2 million on October 1. (venice.ai)

What holding and staking do

Staked VVV earns a share of newly issued tokens. Locking sVVV to mint DIEM gives it a second role: supporting an asset that someone can stake for daily AI credit or transfer to another user. While the sVVV remains locked, Venice’s published design pays it a reduced share of the standard staking reward. Separately, staking at least 100 VVV unlocks Venice Pro features under the platform’s stated program. (venice.ai)

Venice also buys and burns VVV using portions of platform revenue. Its program includes burns tied to new paid subscriptions and to purchases of API credit. Burns remove tokens, while staking emissions add them. Both mechanisms shape the token’s supply over time. (venice.ai)

Ecosystem & Use Cases

Tools for people, developers, and agents

Venice brings text, image, video, and audio models into one service. A person might use its app to draft a document or create an image. A developer can use the API to add AI features to another product. An automated agent can call that API while carrying out a longer task, such as writing code or producing media. In July 2026, Venice reported 3.5 million registered users and about 2 million developer API calls per day, offering a dated picture of how far the service had grown. (venice.ai)

VVV and DIEM fit different needs within that activity. VVV lets a holder stake, earn protocol rewards, and mint DIEM. DIEM gives an API user a stated amount of daily credit without requiring that user to mint it personally. Venice’s incentive fund has also supported projects building on its API with compute access and milestone-based VVV awards. (venice.ai)

Venice supports x402 payments on Base as another route to API use. With x402, a wallet-equipped agent can pay for a request directly. If it has staked DIEM, Venice uses those daily credits first; further charges can be paid in USDC on Base. This adds a pay-as-you-go choice alongside token-backed access. (venice.ai)

Advantages & Challenges

What the design makes possible

Venice combines a working AI service with a token that has a defined role in it. Developers can obtain recurring API capacity through DIEM, while VVV stakers can choose whether to keep their full staking position or lock part of it to create transferable compute rights. The platform’s range of models and privacy modes gives users further choices about the tools they use and how their requests are handled. (venice.ai)

The design also has practical trade-offs. Using VVV, sVVV, and DIEM takes more steps than paying an ordinary API bill. A minter who transfers DIEM needs the matching amount back to release the VVV they locked. Privacy features differ by model, and Venice’s end-to-end encrypted mode supports fewer models and leaves out features such as web search and memory. These limits affect which path suits a given task. (venice.ai)

Where to Buy & Wallets

Exchanges and Base-compatible storage

VVV is available on Kraken and Coinbase, and it can be swapped through Base-based decentralized exchanges such as Aerodrome. Exchange access and supported payment methods depend on location. For on-chain use, VVV can be held in a wallet that supports Base ERC-20 tokens, including MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet. A wallet also needs ETH on Base to pay network fees when moving tokens or interacting with staking contracts. (coingecko.com)

Venice’s VVV contract address on Base is 0xacfE6019Ed1A7Dc6f7B508C02d1b04ec88cC21bf. Matching the network and contract address is especially useful when adding the token to a wallet or using an on-chain exchange. (coinbase.com)

Regulatory & Compliance

Legal and religious considerations

Rules for offering and trading crypto assets depend on jurisdiction. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s guidance examines the facts of how an asset is offered and sold, including whether a transaction involves an investment contract. In the European Union, the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework sets disclosure requirements for covered crypto-asset offerings and trading admissions; Coinbase’s European VVV page displays a MiCA whitepaper link. These frameworks concern legal treatment rather than the token’s technical function. (sec.gov)

A published Shariah certification for VVV has not been established. An Islamic-finance assessment would consider its use for AI services, rewards issued through staking, and the rights represented by DIEM. Relevant principles include the treatment of interest (riba), excessive uncertainty (gharar), and gambling (maysir). Those features call for a specific assessment rather than a conclusion based only on VVV’s label as a utility token. (venice.ai)

Future Outlook

Linking service growth and token use

Venice has continued to connect VVV with more parts of its AI service. DIEM made computing capacity transferable; staking VVV added a route to Pro access; and subscription and API-credit purchases became sources of token burns. The company’s 2026 fundraising is intended to support expansion of its consumer app and API. Together, these developments make continued use of the platform central to the token’s role. (venice.ai)

A key question for the ecosystem is how often developers and agents choose token-backed capacity instead of ordinary API credits or direct wallet payments. Venice offers all three paths. Their use will help show where VVV and DIEM are most useful as the platform develops. (venice.ai)

Summary

Venice Token connects a privacy-focused AI platform to Base. VVV supports staking, access to Venice Pro, and the creation of DIEM, which provides daily AI API credit when staked. Its place in the crypto ecosystem rests on a practical link between on-chain tokens and an operating AI service used by people, developers, and automated agents. (venice.ai)