SAN FRANCISCO, CA – As synthetic intelligence dominates enterprise funding and headlines alike, some in crypto have begun to wonder if the trade has missed its “ChatGPT second” — or worse, whether or not capital is completely rotating away.
Haseeb Qureshi, managing associate at crypto enterprise agency Dragonfly, rejects that framing outright.
“I might fully dispute this framing,” Qureshi mentioned in an interview with CoinDesk at NEARCON 2026. “Lower than 1% of AI customers are paying. Meaning 99% are utilizing the free tier. Crypto doesn’t have a free tier.”
Comparisons between AI’s explosive client adoption and crypto’s trajectory misunderstand the character of the merchandise, he argued. “There is no such thing as a free Bitcoin. There’s no free Ethereum,” he mentioned, noting that whereas roughly 80% of Individuals have tried some type of AI software, about 15% have owned crypto — a determine he calls “a mass-market phenomenon.”
To Qureshi, the higher lens is world utility, significantly in funds. Stablecoins, he famous, have grown steadily no matter worth swings. “Stablecoin provide has been rising 50% 12 months over 12 months,” he mentioned. “That’s exponential development.”
Qureshi mentioned the underlying fundamentals of crypto stay intact even when sentiment has cooled.
Following the cash
Enterprise {dollars} have undeniably shifted towards AI. However Qureshi views that much less as an indictment of crypto and extra because the market doing what markets do.
“Cash is a number one indicator,” he mentioned. “Human beings reply to cash — they don’t reply to the truth on the bottom.”
Crypto, even after a number of drawdowns, stays a $2 trillion asset class. And in contrast to AI giants akin to OpenAI, which make use of 1000’s, crypto tasks typically scale with lean groups.
“We don’t have any 9,000-person corporations like OpenAI — and that’s factor,” Qureshi mentioned. “Crypto is extremely excessive leverage as a expertise. You don’t want very many individuals to construct issues which are world scale.”
He sees the current contraction as a correction after years of overfunding. “To the extent that there have been too many individuals constructing too many issues in crypto, the market’s correcting that. That’s capitalism doing its job.”
The truth is, Dragonfly lately introduced a $650 million fund — a transfer some observers characterised as daring given the present market malaise.
“That’s one of the best time to double down,” Qureshi mentioned. “Why would you wish to double down when costs are excessive? For those who’re elevating cash and deploying into all-time excessive costs, that’s when you ought to be nervous.”
Requested whether or not one thing extra existential had modified in crypto over the previous 4 months, he was blunt: “Did the basics of the trade change that a lot? No.”
Crypto and AI: convergence or mirage?
Whereas Dragonfly is exploring investments on the intersection of crypto and AI, Qureshi cautioned in opposition to assuming AI will revive crypto’s momentum.
“Is AI going to avoid wasting crypto? F*** no,” he mentioned. “AI brokers utilizing crypto are so far-off — it’s going to take years.”
He sees a well-recognized sample of crypto attaching itself to no matter technological development is ascendant. “Chatbots are thrilling? Nice — we have now chatbots with tokens. Brokers are thrilling? Nice — you should buy the layer one for brokers,” he mentioned. “As an investor, you simply need to decelerate.”
That doesn’t imply crypto’s id is shifting away from its roots. Latest narratives suggesting that the trade has capitulated to Wall Avenue miss the purpose, Qureshi mentioned.
“There’s lots of people saying crypto capitulated and have become a software of Wall Avenue. I believe that’s silly,” he mentioned. “The entire level of bitcoin is that it encompasses everyone’s utilization of the identical expertise. No person’s utilization impinges on anyone else’s.”
Cycles, not collapse
Qureshi attributes a lot of right this moment’s gloom to brief time horizons and easy fatigue.
“Folks in crypto are pathologically short-time horizon,” he mentioned. “Costs had been down loads of instances.”
From ETF-driven rallies to tariff-induced pullbacks, volatility has outlined the trade for over a decade. The sample, he suggests, is neither new nor deadly.
“This concept that as a result of costs are down, no person’s going to make use of stablecoins anymore? Absurd,” he mentioned.
For Qureshi, the story isn’t about AI changing crypto, nor about crypto’s decline. It’s about cycles — and endurance.
“Relax,” he mentioned. “It’s not a disaster.”
Learn extra: Kraken’s co-CEO might belief AI with 100% of his crypto — Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi isn’t satisfied