SKN | AI Systemic Risk Warning Puts Bitcoin and Financial Infrastructure Under the Microscope

Key Points:

• Marc van der Chijs, co-founder of former Bitcoin miner Hut 8, says the rapid AI race could create systemic risks for banks and critical infrastructure if development continues faster than effective safeguards.
• Van der Chijs estimates AI and robotics could eventually perform 90% to 95% of existing jobs, potentially forcing governments to reconsider taxation and fiscal policy as employment structures change.
• After shifting substantial capital from Bitcoin into AI, Van der Chijs is now directing part of his AI profits back into crypto through ETFs, reflecting a changing assessment of risks across both technologies.

Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a financial-market risk discussion rather than solely a technology story, according to crypto entrepreneur Marc van der Chijs. The Hut 8 co-founder told CoinDesk that the accelerating competition between companies and governments may be moving AI development beyond effective human oversight, raising potential risks for banking systems, critical infrastructure and digital-asset businesses.

AI Development Is Becoming a Systemic Risk Question

Van der Chijs said his view of AI has become substantially more cautious in recent weeks, even though he continues to expect the technology to transform the global economy. His concern centers on the pace of development and the competitive incentives pushing companies and governments to advance increasingly capable systems.

He argued that the same competitive dynamics can discourage individual participants from slowing down, even when broader safeguards have not kept pace. In his assessment, a major disruption involving financial systems or critical infrastructure could occur before governments establish effective international guardrails.

The argument remains an individual investor’s assessment rather than an established forecast. However, it places AI alongside other technologies that can create interconnected financial risks when failures spread across highly dependent systems.

Legacy Banking Systems Could Face New Vulnerabilities

One area of concern is the banking sector. Van der Chijs believes increasingly capable AI systems could identify vulnerabilities in legacy banking software, potentially affecting institutions that depend on interconnected technology infrastructure.

For crypto markets, the distinction between centralized businesses and decentralized networks is important. Van der Chijs considers exchanges and other businesses built around Bitcoin potentially more exposed to infrastructure disruptions than the underlying Bitcoin network itself.

That distinction matters because digital-asset markets rely heavily on centralized intermediaries, including exchanges, custodians, payment providers and other technology platforms. A disruption at those points could affect market access and liquidity even if the underlying blockchain continues operating.

AI Could Reshape Employment and Government Revenue

Van der Chijs also expects AI and robotics to have a profound effect on employment. He estimates the technologies could eventually perform 90% to 95% of existing jobs while significantly reducing the cost of goods and services.

Such a transformation would create fiscal challenges for governments that currently depend heavily on employment-related economic activity and taxation. He suggested that policymakers could eventually consider mechanisms such as robot or AI-use taxes, although locally operated AI systems could make enforcement and collection difficult.

The potential economic effects are particularly relevant to financial markets because changes in employment, productivity, taxation and consumption would influence monetary policy, corporate earnings and capital allocation.

Capital Is Moving Between AI and Bitcoin

Van der Chijs’s own investment strategy illustrates the changing relationship between the two technologies. He said he previously sold a substantial amount of Bitcoin to invest in AI, arguing that capital redirected toward artificial intelligence may have contributed to Bitcoin remaining below earlier expectations of $200,000 to $250,000.

He is now allocating some AI profits back into cryptocurrency, primarily through exchange-traded funds. At the same time, he continues to favor AI data centers over Bitcoin mining as a business opportunity, reflecting the different economics of digital infrastructure and cryptocurrency production.

For crypto investors, the broader issue is how capital allocation changes as AI infrastructure demands compete with digital assets for institutional and private capital. Bitcoin’s role as a decentralized financial asset remains separate from the commercial risks surrounding centralized crypto companies.

Going forward, investors will be watching AI infrastructure spending, cybersecurity developments, banking-system resilience and the evolution of regulatory safeguards. The more tightly AI becomes integrated with financial and physical infrastructure, the more important those interdependencies become for markets. At the same time, capital moving between AI and crypto could influence liquidity and valuations across both sectors, making the relationship between the two technologies an increasingly relevant part of digital-asset market analysis.