Introducing Decentralised AI
Summary by AI BETAClose X
KR1 plc
Thursday, 14 May 2026
KR1 plc ("KR1" or the "Company")
Introducing Decentralised AI
KR1 plc (LSE: KR1), a digital asset technology company, is pleased to announce the expansion of its technology infrastructure operations through newly launched activities and strategic investments in the convergence of artificial intelligence ("AI") and decentralised technologies.
As detailed in the Company's latest Managing Directors' Report, artificial intelligence is increasingly converging with digital assets and onchain infrastructure. A key part of this stems from agentic AI systems, where agentic activity through commerce and settlement is a key demand driver for onchain infrastructure and is expected to grow exponentially.
However, with the increasing global adoption of AI, society also faces a key issue, one where centralised AI systems pose threats to user privacy and censorship as well as face risks in relation to control. Therefore, it's vital that systems exist that provide users options that eliminate fragility, reduce single points of failure, and return power and control to the user.
In line with this, the Company is pleased to announce a strategic investment in Venice ("VVV"), a leading privacy-centric AI inference platform alongside the launch of the Company's technology infrastructure operations for Venice.
Venice AI, founded by Erik Voorhees, a respected crypto entrepreneur, is a privacy-focused AI platform providing permissionless access to AI models for text, image, code and agent-based applications, without relying on the closed, data-aggregation business model of major centralised AI platforms. Venice provides KR1 plc exposure to the user and agent-facing layer of artificial intelligence, including private inference, open model access and the emerging machine-to-machine economy.
Since the start of May, KR1 plc has acquired 60,000 VVV tokens and has recently commenced staking activities on the Venice platform, with VVV representing a productive asset to the Company. Based on recent Venice staking activity, the Company is targeting for the staking operations to generate infrastructure income from Venice emissions in excess of 10% ARR alongside expected medium-to-long term capital growth. The VVV tokens utilised in the Company's staking operations are locked in Venice's staking system and are subject to a 7 day 'cooldown' process should the Company decide to cease its staking operations and dispose of the holding. The Company will evaluate potential partnerships in the Venice ecosystem as well as further opportunities, such as Venice's DIEM token, which enables onchain participants to programmatically access AI inference.
The Company further notes the recent launch of Gensyn, a network for machine intelligence, where KR1 plc has existing look-through exposure to Gensyn through seed and Series A funding rounds from the Company's Zee Prime II specialist fund holding. KR1 plc is further pleased to announce the Company has started acquiring a strategic position in Gensyn ("AI") and will evaluate relevant opportunities and partnerships in the Gensyn ecosystem.
Gensyn is a decentralised AI compute network aggregating idle GPU and CPU resources into a single verifiable compute layer. It was funded by Andreessen Horowitz (alongside Zee Prime) and provides KR1 plc exposure to the infrastructure layer of decentralised AI with training, verification, coordination of AI models and compute beyond centralised cloud and model providers.
Further, KR1 plc has material exposure to protocols that are likely to benefit from the expected growth in agentic AI activity, such as through the Company's existing positions in Ethereum and RedStone. These holdings and related operations sit in the Company's Technology Infrastructure strategy, where the Company utilises approx. 50% of its assets with a view to generate income, targeting a blended yield of in excess of 5%. The Company is actively preparing, evaluating and researching further operational opportunities and strategies in the onchain infrastructure sector, including in relation to decentralised AI.
Further information on the Company's performance in relation to the generation of infrastructure income from these operations as well the Company's underlying holdings will be provided in due course as part of the Company's regular monthly unaudited financial updates.
Keld van Schreven, Managing Director and Co-Founder of KR1 plc, commented:
"Decentralised AI represents the most important new opportunity in digital assets. KR1 is positioning early across this emerging stack because we believe Decentralised AI has the potential to become one of the defining investment themes of the next decade, while helping address many of the biggest challenges facing AI today namely privacy, access, resilience, ownership and control."
About KR1 plc
KR1 plc is a digital asset technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange, focused on the infrastructure layer of decentralised networks. By securing Ethereum and other major networks, the Company compounds its asset base alongside strategic investments - turning active network participation into long-term value for shareholders.
Contact
For further information, please contact:
KR1 plc (KR1: LSE)
George McDonaugh, Keld van Schreven
Phone: +44 (0)1624 630 630
Email: investors@KR1.io
Singer Capital Markets (Corporate Broker and Financial Adviser)
Investment Banking: Alex Bond, James Fischer
Equity Sales: William Gumpel
Phone: +44 (0)20 7496 3000
Email: enquiries@singercm.com
SEC Newgate (PR, Media and Financial Communications Adviser)
Ian Silvera, Bob Huxford, Dafydd Rees
Phone: +44 (0)20 3757 6882
Email: KR1@secnewgate.co.uk
AlbR Capital (Financial Adviser)
David Coffman
Phone: +44 (0)20 7469 0930
Email: info@albrcapital.com
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
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