'We have lost control': Crypto pioneer warns AI could trigger systemic banking and infrastructure shocks

Marc van der Chijs, who co-founded bitcoin miner Hut 8, told CoinDesk he now fears artificial intelligence development has outpaced human control because intense competition among companies and nation-states discourages restraint. He described himself as a recent "doomer," saying the pace of progress worries him until stronger controls or international cooperation are in place. Van der Chijs warned that this rapid AI advancement could precipitate major disruptions, including shocks to financial systems and critical infrastructure. He singled out legacy banking software and interconnected institutional systems as potential points of failure, and suggested that crypto intermediaries such as exchanges might be more vulnerable than blockchain networks themselves. Despite these warnings, van der Chijs remains bullish on AI’s economic impact, forecasting that AI and robotics could eventually handle 90%–95% of current jobs and drive steep cost reductions across the economy. He said such a transformation would force governments to seek new revenue sources — he mentioned ideas like taxes on robots or charges for AI token usage — while acknowledging enforcement would be complicated by local model deployments. His investment choices have mirrored his assessment of the technologies: he moved much of his bitcoin holdings into AI and favors AI data centers over bitcoin mining, calling Hut 8’s pivot into AI "the best move ever" in a personal capacity. He attributes part of bitcoin’s underperformance relative to some expectations to investor capital flowing into AI, but said he is now channeling some AI profits back into crypto, mainly via exchange-traded funds. Even so, he maintains that if he could hold only one asset for life, it would be bitcoin.