- Brian Armstrong says the “pivot to AI” slogan is a “zero sum, scarcity thinking.”
- He believes the AI megatrend will take nothing away from crypto.
- Many crypto miners are already jumping ship for AI.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has pushed back against calls for crypto founders to pivot to AI.
In a post on Sunday, Armstrong took aim directly at the years-old slogan “If you’re in crypto, pivot to AI,” which seems to have become popular in recent months, amid the growth of AI.
“It’s zero sum, scarcity thinking,” he wrote, saying crypto is a general-purpose technology.
"If you’re in crypto, pivot to AI."
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) July 26, 2026
I used to hear versions of this, and it’s the wrong way to think about the world. It’s zero sum, scarcity thinking.
Crypto is a general purpose technology. It’s infrastructure, the same way electricity or the internet is infrastructure. It…
Coinbase CEO says crypto will power agentic payments
Armstrong put crypto in the same category as electricity and the internet, saying it’s an infrastructure that doesn’t compete with AI, but rather underpins it.
“AI being a megatrend takes nothing away from crypto. If anything, it makes crypto more important,” said Coinbase CEO.
He noted that the opportunity lies in crypto being a real-time programmable money, a new sector coined as “Agentic Finance (AiFi).”
According to Armstrong, AI agents will eventually need their own financial infrastructure to trade, hold funds, and pay for items, among other things. He believes crypto will power most of all agentic payments.
“They can’t open a bank account, they can’t wait three days for a wire, they reside in one country,” Armstrong argued. “They need real time programmable money (and that’s crypto).”
Bitcoin miners are already jumping ship to AI
The crypto industry already sees a trend of participants shifting focus to AI, especially in the mining sector.
Core Scientific, CleanSpark, and DMG Blockchain Solutions, among others, have rented out their facilities to serve clients, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and other hyperscalers chasing more computing capacity.
Adam Sullivan, the Chief Executive at Core Scientific, said: “The opportunity for miners to convert to AI is one of the greatest opportunities I could possibly imagine.”
In fact, the company plans to stop all mining operations by 2028, as Cryptopolitan reported in December.
More recently, in July, Grayscale announced it would rename the Grayscale Bitcoin Miners ETF ($MNRS) to the Grayscale AI Compute ETF, effective September 15. The fund will now target the AI and high-performance computing sector.
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FAQs
What did Brian Armstrong say about crypto and AI?
Armstrong wrote on X on July 26 that telling people to leave crypto for AI is "zero sum, scarcity thinking," and described crypto as a general-purpose technology and infrastructure "the same way electricity or the internet is infrastructure."
Which Bitcoin miners are moving into AI?
Core Scientific, CleanSpark, MARA, IREN, and Bitdeer are among those pivoting; Core Scientific plans to exit Bitcoin mining by 2028, while IREN signed a five-year, $3.4 billion cloud contract with NVIDIA for Blackwell GPUs.
Why are miners converting to AI computing?
After the 2024 halving cut the block reward to 3.125 BTC and production costs rose to roughly $70,027 per coin at MARA, AI colocation became far more profitable, generating three to twenty-five times more revenue per kilowatt at margins of 80% to 90%.
Disclaimer. The information provided is not trading advice. Cryptopolitan.com holds no liability for any investments made based on the information provided on this page. We strongly recommend independent research and/or consultation with a qualified professional before making any investment decisions.
Ibiam Wayas
Ibiam Wayas has covered the crypto news beat since 2019. He studied Computer Science at National Open University of Nigeria. His work has appeared on various crypto news platforms, including Coinfomania, Crypto News Australia, and AltcoinBuzz. Drawing on his background in Computer Science, he now focuses on crypto, robotics, and longevity news.
