Vitalik Buterin Rejects Claim That AI Could Crash Bitcoin Price by 50%

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Monday pushed back against a claim that artificial intelligence (AI) could break Bitcoin’s security and drive a 50% price drop within two years. He believes the probability of breaks on hashes or PoW is tiny, saying most of his wealth is already aligned with that view.

Ethereum’s Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Dismisses AI Could Crash BTC Claims

Vitalik Buterin disagrees with Silicon Valley angel investor and AI-risk commentator Liron Shapira’s claim that AI will undermine Bitcoin’s security guarantees and trigger a 50% price crash in the next two years.

Ethereum co-founder said he is optimistic about blockchain cybersecurity in the long term. He believes the main challenge is getting the transition and expects the Bitcoin network to handle any issues.

In addition, Vitalik Buterin says the odds of AI breaking into hashes or proof-of-work (PoW) are “tiny.” On the other side, network-layer issues can be fixed via client and mining pool upgrades without social consensus.

“I would offer a bet, but given what my holdings are I’m basically taking this bet (I assume you believe the same re ETH) with ~90% of my net worth already,” he said.

Bitcoin Price Trades Near $79,500

Bitcoin price has held near $80,000 over the past 24 hours despite escalation in the US-Iran war. At the time of writing, the price was trading at $79,564, with a 24-hour low and high of $79,426 and $80,493, respectively.

Furthermore, trading volume has increased by 12% over the last 24 hours, indicating a rise in interest among traders. The crypto market braces for volatility due to this week’s US CPI inflation data.

CoinGlass data showed slight selling in the derivatives market. At the time of writing, the total Bitcoin futures open interest fell 0.55% to $52.92 billion in the last 24 hours. BTC futures OI on CME and Binance slipped by around 0.40%.