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OpenAI Valuation Skyrockets to $500 Billion
Artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI has become the world’s largest startup after a recent secondary share sale lifted its valuation to $500 billion. Anonymous sources told Bloomberg that current and former employees sold roughly $6.6 billion in stock to investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank Group Corp., Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T. Rowe Price. The deal pushed OpenAI ahead of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is valued at about $400 billion, and far beyond major private tech firms like ByteDance and Anthropic.
Why this matters for AI and blockchain
The transaction highlights growing enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and underscores an emerging convergence between AI and blockchain technologies. Investors are increasingly treating both AI and crypto infrastructure as core pillars of the next phase of digital transformation, channeling capital into startups across these sectors.
How OpenAI compares to the biggest crypto firms
At a $500 billion valuation, OpenAI towers above the largest crypto companies. According to Google Finance, Coinbase — the largest publicly traded crypto exchange — has a market capitalization of roughly $89 billion. Even well-known crypto firms such as Ripple, Circle and Binance remain under the $100 billion threshold. Stablecoin issuer Tether, however, may be the closest crypto rival to OpenAI’s market cap.
Tether’s hypothetical public valuation
On June 7, Artemis CEO Jon Ma estimated that if Tether were to go public, it could be valued at about $515 billion, which would place it among the top 20 public companies globally. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino responded to Ma’s projection by calling $515 billion "a beautiful number" but "a bit bearish," citing the company’s Bitcoin and gold treasury. Ardoino also stated that there is "no need" for Tether to pursue a public listing at this time.
Stablecoins, AI agents and growing transaction automation
Industry leaders see natural synergies between AI and stablecoins. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz predicted that AI agents will become some of the largest stablecoin users as automation and machine-to-machine payments scale. Recent research supports a surge in automated activity: CEX.io Research reported that over 70% of stablecoin transactions in Q3 2025 were linked to bot activity, indicating that algorithmic agents and trading bots are already major drivers of stablecoin volume.
Institutional infrastructure and AI data centers
Investment into physical AI infrastructure is also accelerating. Galaxy Digital secured a $1.4 billion loan to accelerate its Texas Helios AI data center, a project intended to support CoreWeave’s AI and high-performance computing operations. Galaxy projects that the data center could generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue, reflecting strong institutional appetite for AI compute capacity and related services.
Risks and energy concerns around AI growth
As AI adoption escalates, experts warn about rising energy demands. Akash Network founder Greg Osuri told attendees at Token2049 in Singapore that AI training could soon strain existing energy grids to the point where alternative power solutions — including nuclear energy — may be required to sustain large-scale model training. Osuri advocated for more sustainable and decentralized approaches to AI compute, urging the industry to prioritize energy-efficient methods for training and inference.
What this means for crypto and AI stakeholders
The rapid escalation of OpenAI’s valuation and the intense interest in stablecoins reflect a broader market dynamic: investors are betting on technologies that underpin the next era of digital services. For blockchain projects, stablecoin issuers and AI infrastructure providers, this environment offers opportunities for growth but also amplifies scrutiny around governance, transparency, and sustainability.
As AI agents increasingly interact with crypto rails and stablecoins, ecosystem participants should monitor regulatory developments, network security, and energy usage — all factors that will shape how AI and blockchain scale together in the coming years.
Source: cointelegraph
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