Projects at the intersection of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) continue to attract significant investments. However, two prominent venture capitalists express skepticism regarding whether these projects can replace existing AI giants in the field. During a panel at The Block’s Emergence conference in Prague, the investors urged developers to “carefully monitor their risks and rewards.”
Competing with Centralized AI Players is Challenging
Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, argued that existing applications of cryptocurrency often degrade successful off-chain systems, stating, “There is a tendency to take successful off-chain systems, degrade them, and sell them as on-chain products.” He pointed out that this pattern is also evident in the bridges between AI and cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, David Pakman, Managing Director of CoinFund, noted that AI could potentially accelerate software development processes for cryptocurrency developers.
Panelists emphasized that AI’s contributions to cryptocurrency would mainly enhance software development efficiency. However, they stressed the difficulty of altering the positions of centralized players like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft in this cycle.
Hadick expressed a desire for some market-product fit, stating, “We are skeptical about the creation of markets in decentralized models or on-chain machine learning. Still, we have made some investments in edge computing.” Pakman suggested that decentralized alternatives might make a difference in the future, asserting, “If we want AI to have a centralized future, we must continue on the current path. However, if we aim for a decentralized, democratic technology infrastructure, we should assess Web3‘s capabilities in this regard.”
Discussion on AI Agents
Another topic of discussion at the conference was AI agents, designed to complete complex tasks without human guidance. Hadick pointed out the high risks associated with this area, stating, “We have made a single investment in agents. This market likely has a winner-takes-all structure, reminiscent of the excitement in cryptocurrency gaming projects in 2021, and I believe most players will lose money.”
Pakman highlighted the potential synergy between AI agents and cryptocurrency, stating, “Agents will need payments to operate. Cryptocurrency could provide an ideal infrastructure for payments between agents and between humans and agents,” emphasizing the future potential of this integration.
