The firm promises API access to top AI models on Coinbase’s platform “without surveillance or content restrictions.”
Erik Voorhees’s Venice AI Launches on Base
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Base Welcomes Venice AI, Erik Voorhees’s Latest Venture
Privacy-focused AI startup Venice debuted its API service on Coinbase’s Ethereum L2 platform Base on Monday, giving users unfettered access to open-source large language models (LLMs) like Llama and the suddenly popular Deepseek.
Venice was launched in May 2024 by crypto veteran Erik Voorhees who previously ran the popular Satoshi Dice bitcoin gambling site and founded the cryptocurrency exchange Shapeshift.
Voorhees has now set his sights on the rise of crypto AI agents – software tools, usually chatbots, that automate key tasks like analyzing on-chain data or even executing trades. Developers on Base can now design agents that leverage powerful models such as Deepseek on the backend, without the content restrictions or privacy issues that are typical on popular platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
“The Venice API provides a private, uncensored alternative to OpenAI or Anthropic’s APIs,” the firm posted on X. “With Venice, AI agents can now access leading open-source models like Llama 3.3 and Deepseek.”
The company also launched its VVV token on Base yesterday. VVV topped $300 million in market capitalization mere hours after launching, according to data from Coingecko. The token was trading at $11.25 at the time of reporting, up 31.40% over the past 24 hours.
