Spending tied to AI crypto tokens climbed between 122% and 160% since May, even as the prices of those tokens fell roughly 67%, according to data from venture firm a16z that Cointelegraph relayed on November 1, 2026. The post frames a split that has shown up repeatedly this cycle: usage of a category moving one way while its token prices move the other.
The backdrop is a market still digesting October's broad selloff. As of November 1, 2026, Bitcoin traded near $77,665, down about 3.9% over the prior seven days, with Ether around $2,266 and Solana near $95. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index sat at 35, inside Fear territory. AI tokens are not part of that price basket, but the mood pressing on the majors has pressed on them too.
a16z sets rising usage against a falling price
The core claim is narrow and specific. Per a16z, the money flowing through AI tokens grew by 122% to 160% from May onward, a stretch in which the prices of those same tokens dropped by about two thirds. Read plainly, people kept using these tokens, and used them more, while the market repriced them downward.
That pattern is the part worth sitting with. Token prices reflect what buyers will pay for a claim on future value. Spending reflects what people actually do with the thing right now. When the two diverge this far, it usually means the market's price expectations and the network's real use have come unglued, at least for a while. Price was falling, and the people who hold these tokens were not acting like holders waiting for a bounce. They were spending.
The figure rests on one relayed report
A single data point from a single source deserves plain caveats. The number reaches us through a Cointelegraph post citing a16z, not through a16z's full report in hand, so the underlying methodology is not visible here. The post also does not define "AI token spending" precisely. It could mean on-chain transaction value, payments for AI services settled in these tokens, or another measure entirely. The 122% to 160% range itself hints at more than one way of counting.
None of that makes the claim wrong. It means the direction, usage up while price fell, is the durable takeaway, and the exact magnitude should be held loosely until the source report is public and the metric is defined. Treating a percentage range relayed in a tweet as a precise figure is how stale or misread numbers end up quoted for months.
Usage demand and speculative demand are different signals
Two kinds of demand sit behind any token. One is speculative: buyers acquiring it because they expect the price to rise. The other is functional: users spending it because the network does something they want. Speculative demand tends to collapse in a downturn. Functional demand can hold, or grow, if the underlying service keeps getting used.
a16z's figure, taken at face value, describes functional demand rising through a price decline. If that holds across more of the AI token sector, it would point to a base of real activity underneath the speculative froth that washed out this year. It does not promise price recovery. A token can see heavy use and still trade lower if supply, emissions, or sentiment outweigh that use. Usage is one input to price, not a guarantee of it.
For anyone weighing crypto exposure, the lesson is procedural rather than directional. Price charts alone missed the usage trend a16z is pointing to. Spending data, active addresses, and settlement volume are separate readings that sometimes disagree with the chart, and this is one of those moments. The same discipline applies well beyond AI tokens: a measure of what people do with a network often tells a different story than its price, and both deserve a look before drawing a conclusion. This is analysis, not financial advice.
Overview
a16z data, relayed by Cointelegraph on November 1, 2026, puts AI token spending up 122% to 160% since May while the prices of those tokens fell about 67%. The headline is a decoupling of usage from price, reported through a single post whose underlying methodology and exact definition of "spending" are not yet visible. The reading that survives those caveats: functional use of AI tokens rose while the market marked them down. Treat the direction as the signal and wait for a16z's full report before leaning on the precise percentages.
