President of Euro Pacific Capital and economist Peter Schiff stated that the development of artificial intelligence will not lead to an increase in Bitcoin's price and may pose a certain threat to the first cryptocurrency. According to him, Bitcoin supporters mistakenly try to present the asset as a beneficiary of the investment boom surrounding AI, hoping to attract some capital from investors interested in new technologies. Schiff believes that the situation is the opposite: AI is not a positive factor but rather a threat to Bitcoin.
The economist believes that Bitcoin and the artificial intelligence industry compete in several areas. On one hand, they are vying for the capital of speculators, and on the other hand, for the demand for electricity and the infrastructure of data centers. As the computational power required for training and operating AI models increases, the load on energy grids and data centers will only grow, which may create additional challenges for the mining industry.
A more serious risk, according to Schiff, is the technological aspect. In his opinion, more powerful AI models could potentially discover unknown vulnerabilities in the code, cryptographic algorithms, wallets, and the Bitcoin network itself. The crypto skeptic notes that this risk is significant, as the security of the first cryptocurrency and the limited nature of its issuance directly depend on the reliability of software and cryptographic mechanisms.
Schiff's views contrast with those of other market participants. Earlier, BitMEX co-founder and investor Arthur Hayes expressed the opposite viewpoint, stating that a potential collapse of the AI bubble in the stock market could be one of the main reasons for Bitcoin's growth. Thus, there are polar assessments within the professional community regarding how the development of artificial intelligence will impact the digital asset market in the long term.