Marc van der Chijs, the entrepreneur who co-founded bitcoin miner Hut 8, has redirected a large part of his bitcoin holdings into artificial intelligence. Now, growing concerns over AI’s accelerating development are leading him to shift some of those profits back into cryptocurrency.
Van der Chijs said his outlook on AI has turned more pessimistic over the past week, although he still expects the technology to have a major impact on the global economy.
“I’ve become more of a doomer over the past week, to be honest,” he told CoinDesk.
The change marks a notable shift for Van der Chijs, who has previously compared the current AI boom with his early investment in bitcoin in 2013. While he continues to see AI as a transformative technology, he is increasingly questioning whether humans can keep its development under control.
“We have lost control, actually,” he said, adding that he is concerned the industry is moving too quickly before adequate control mechanisms are in place.
His concerns resemble warnings from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has called for greater caution in the development of frontier AI. Amodei has warned that increasingly advanced models, including systems capable of contributing to their own improvement, could progress beyond effective human oversight and create serious risks for infrastructure.
Van der Chijs said the intense competition among technology companies and governments is contributing to the problem. Participants have little incentive to slow down individually because doing so could leave them behind competitors. This dynamic, he argued, could raise the possibility of a major systemic failure before effective international safeguards are established.
AI May Reveal Banking Weaknesses
Van der Chijs believes governments may not coordinate effectively on AI safety until a major disruption occurs, potentially involving financial institutions or critical infrastructure.
He is especially concerned about legacy banking systems. AI could uncover vulnerabilities in older software used by banks, potentially damaging confidence in institutions that depend on interconnected digital networks.
Within the crypto sector, he said exchanges and businesses built around bitcoin may face greater exposure than Bitcoin’s underlying network.
Even with those concerns, Van der Chijs remains bullish on AI’s potential to reshape the economy. He estimates that AI and robotics could eventually perform 90% to 95% of existing jobs, while automation could significantly reduce the cost of goods and services.
Such a transition could also leave governments searching for new tax sources as conventional employment changes. Van der Chijs suggested taxes on robots or AI token usage as possible approaches, while acknowledging that collecting such taxes could be difficult when AI systems operate locally.
His own portfolio reflects the shift toward AI.
“I sold a lot of my bitcoin. I went into AI,” he said.
Van der Chijs believes the movement of capital into AI contributed to bitcoin failing to reach the $200,000 to $250,000 levels that he and others had expected.
He has since begun shifting some AI gains back into crypto, mainly through exchange-traded funds.
Van der Chijs also believes AI infrastructure offers a more compelling commercial opportunity than bitcoin mining. Speaking for himself, he described Hut 8’s expansion into AI as “the best move ever” and said he would put the company’s entire focus on AI data centers if he were leading it today.
AI Outlook Remains Positive Despite Risks
Van der Chijs’ concerns about AI’s potential dangers have not changed his broader view that the technology could have enormous economic value. However, he remains selective about AI investments at current valuations.
He expects Tesla and SpaceX could outperform Anthropic over the next five years, while still believing that leading AI companies could eventually become the world’s largest businesses.
Bitcoin remains an exception in his investment strategy. If he had to hold just one asset for the rest of his life, Van der Chijs said he would choose bitcoin.
