Dragonfly: The crypto industry has not lost to AI; capital shift is just a normal market adjustment

According to Odaily, as artificial intelligence continues to attract significant venture capital and market attention, some industry insiders have begun to worry whether the crypto industry has already missed its own “ChatGPT moment.” In response, Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at crypto investment firm Dragonfly, stated that this comparison is itself a misunderstanding. The crypto industry has not been replaced by AI, and the shift in capital flows is merely “the normal operation of capitalism.”

Qureshi pointed out that the nature of AI and crypto products is completely different. Currently, most AI users are using free services, whereas crypto assets do not have a “free tier.” He noted that about 80% of Americans have tried AI tools, while around 15% have held crypto assets, which already constitutes mass adoption.

He believes that the core fundamentals of the crypto industry remain solid, especially with the outstanding growth of stablecoins, whose supply still maintains an annual growth rate of about 50%. Despite a cooling in market sentiment, the overall scale of crypto assets remains around $2 trillion, the industry’s technological leverage is high, and small teams can build projects on a global scale.

Regarding the obvious shift of venture capital funds toward the AI sector, Qureshi believes this does not mean the decline of the crypto industry, but rather that the market is correcting the overfunding of previous years. He stated that increasing investment during market downturns is actually a more rational strategy, and Dragonfly’s recent announcement of a new $650 million fund is based on this judgment.

As for the prospects of combining AI and crypto, Qureshi remains cautious. He believes it will still take several years before AI agents make large-scale use of crypto technology, and that AI will not become the “savior” of the crypto industry’s recovery.

Qureshi concluded that what the crypto industry is currently facing is more of a cyclical fluctuation rather than a structural decline. Market volatility is a normal part of long-term development, and “there is no need to be overly pessimistic—this is not a disaster.”