Crypto Project Red Flag Checker
Check if a cryptocurrency project has the same red flags as CETI (Tao Ceτi). Based on 5 critical criteria from our analysis of failed AI crypto projects.
Tao Ceτi (CETI) is a cryptocurrency that promised to be the backbone of a decentralized AI infrastructure. Launched in March 2024, it claimed to let users earn revenue by contributing computing power to an AI network - all powered by a token called CETI. But today, nearly two years later, that promise hasn’t materialized. There’s no working AI system. No hardware deployed. No verifiable revenue. And the token’s price is barely hanging on.
What CETI Actually Is (And Isn’t)
CETI is an ERC-20 token built on Ethereum. It’s not a blockchain of its own. It doesn’t mine. It doesn’t validate transactions. It’s just a digital token with a fixed supply of 21 million, though some trackers show 21,014,181 in circulation - a small but telling inconsistency that raised red flags among blockchain auditors. Its name uses the Greek letter tau (τ) instead of a regular 't' - Ceτi - to visually echo Bittensor’s TAO token, suggesting a connection. But there’s no official link. No shared code. No collaboration. Just a stylistic copycat move. The project’s website, taoceti.ai, says CETI will power a decentralized AI compute network where 100% of net revenue goes back to token holders. Sounds great. But here’s the catch: there’s no evidence that any AI infrastructure exists. No servers. No APIs. No benchmarks. No developer tools. Just words.How CETI Was Supposed to Work (In Theory)
According to its documentation, CETI was meant to function like this:- Users would stake CETI to contribute to a decentralized AI network.
- The network would rent out AI processing power to businesses and developers.
- Revenue from those rentals would be distributed to CETI holders as a share.
- Hardware (like GPUs) would be bought using tax reserves from token trades and plugged into DePin (decentralized physical infrastructure) projects.
The Market Reality: A Token on Life Support
As of December 2025, CETI’s market cap sits at just $1.18 million. That’s less than 0.004% of the total AI crypto market, which is worth over $32 billion. Compare that to Fetch.ai ($1.3 billion) or Render Token ($2.1 billion). CETI doesn’t just lag - it’s invisible in the same league. It trades on only one place: Uniswap v2. No Coinbase. No Binance. No Kraken. Not even on newer DEXs like Uniswap v3. That means liquidity is razor-thin. On some days, the 24-hour trading volume drops below $500. If you try to sell more than $100 worth of CETI, the price slumps 35-45% before your trade finishes. That’s not market volatility - that’s manipulation. Even worse, Bitget listed CETI’s price as $0.00 in late 2025. Other platforms show it hovering between $0.035 and $0.043. But no one can agree. That’s a sign of broken data, low interest, or both.
Why No One Trusts It
There are five major reasons why the crypto community has walked away from CETI:- No whitepaper - The site says one is coming. It’s been over a year. Still nothing.
- No code - GitHub is empty. No commits since launch. The project is technically dead.
- No revenue - No AI services are being sold. No clients. No invoices. No proof of earnings.
- Supply mismatch - Circulating supply exceeds maximum supply. That’s not normal. It suggests sloppy accounting or worse.
- Regulatory risk - The SEC has warned that tokens promising revenue shares without being registered securities are illegal. CETI fits that exact profile.
Who’s Buying It Now?
Only two types of people still hold CETI:- Speculators - Hoping for a pump-and-dump. They buy when the price spikes briefly, then bail before it crashes again.
- Early buyers - Who bought at launch and are now stuck, refusing to admit they made a mistake.
The Bigger Picture: AI Crypto Is Booming - But CETI Isn’t Part of It
The AI crypto sector exploded in 2024. Over 147 new tokens launched. Most failed. But a few, like Fetch.ai, Akash Network, and Render, survived because they delivered real products. They have working networks. Real users. Public APIs. Enterprise partnerships. CETI didn’t. It didn’t even try. No demos. No testnets. No developer grants. No community calls. No roadmap updates. Just a website that hasn’t changed since July 2024. Experts like Maria Chen from CertiK and Dr. Ethan Wong from Stanford say projects like this almost always fail. “Promising revolutionary tech without releasing documentation is a classic warning sign,” Chen tweeted in December 2024.
