AI and Crypto: Digital Assets Thoughts of the Week
by Tony Zerucha · Crowdfund InsiderWhy AI will select AI
“The sheer number of AI agents is already unmanageable at enterprise scale. Gartner predicted that the average Fortune 500 company will go from less than 15 AI agents in 2025 to more than 150,000 in 2028, while only 13% of companies have appropriate AI governance. At this scale, it will be impossible to manually determine what model each agent should use for each task, and this is exactly what model routers excel at.”
“Most companies are drowning in token costs, and one third have responded with ‘emergency spending freezes’ on AI. Companies need to put the best frontier models in the hands of their talented employees, but costs are becoming prohibitive. What is needed is an automated system that selects the best model for each employee-initiated task, which again requires delegating to AI itself.”
“Despite many attempts to benchmark AI models, no single winner has triumphed across the board, because each model has different strengths. Case in point, 37% of organizations are using five or more different models. Cost, latency, and accuracy vary significantly by task, which means AI models must be evaluated on a task-specific basis. Once again, only AI can perform this type of task-specific model evaluation at runtime, at any kind of scale.”
“Enterprises are moving from experimenting with AI models to operating large, heterogeneous AI systems. As agents proliferate and model capabilities change daily, static model choices quickly become obsolete. This is why the future of model selection will be determined by AI itself, and companies late to the game of automated AI governance will be left behind.”
– Suresh Mathew, founder and CEO, Sedai
CLARITY Act
“The latest version of the CLARITY Act being expanded to protect inactive self-custodial wallets is the right move to take against the novel lost-and-found lawsuits for crypto wallets, which would cause a host of issues if successful.”
“‘HODLING’ is ingrained in crypto; it’s one of the oldest terms in the culture. Long-term crypto holders should not have to worry that someone will try to claim their assets at some point just because they had the guts to hang on.”
– Roy Blackstone, CEO, NGRAVE
JP Morgan, Polymarket, split up
“Anything moving through crypto rails has faced banking troubles since the inception of the industry – prediction markets are no exception. Trump’s executive order certainly increased pressure on financial institutions, but banks’ internal risk models remain stringent. For those who have been in crypto for some time, this pattern is nothing new: companies operating on workarounds and informal banking relationships are always one misstep away from losing banking access, regardless of which administration is in power.”
“That said, the Trump administration has greatly accelerated regulatory progress and brought the industry closer to real clarity. The United States has always acted as a global leader, and the approval of the GENIUS Act not only legitimized the industry domestically, it signaled to regulators worldwide that they should be preparing for the global adoption of crypto rails.”
“We’re now seeing that play out everywhere: MiCA is being enforced across Europe, Brazil’s Central Bank has issued new resolutions bringing virtual asset providers under formal supervision, Hong Kong passed its Stablecoins Ordinance, and licensing regimes are advancing in Singapore and the UAE.
“The firms truly building for the future are the ones that partnered with regulated banking rails from day one, rather than hoping to fly under the radar forever. This industry will only become more institutionalized – and it’s exactly those partnerships, and a compliance-forward posture, that will keep companies inside the lines.”
– Diogo Cassinelli, sales and partnerships manager, Trace Finance
SEC Attempting digital asset regulation: Regulation Crypto Asset
“This development is significant in that it’s the SEC’s first real attempt at a permanent framework for digital assets, and it just so happens to coincide with the Clarity Act stalling. The proposal outlines two different paths for crypto issuers to raise capital without having to fully register securities. Additionally, it creates a safe harbor for project teams that have stepped back, so they no longer have to abide by securities rules while they’re not actively managing.”
“For the industry at large, this is a huge step in the right direction. Builders have spent years uncertain and without a clear rulebook, with regulators taking a rule-by-enforcement approach. This proposed rulebook would encourage startups to stay in the US rather than moving operations offshore. If this framework goes through, it will help further cement the U.S. as a leader in digital asset innovation.”
– Bernardo Brites, co-founder and CEO, Trace Finance
HYPE v Bitcoin
“HYPE’s rally looks primarily driven by strong marginal demand for a relatively illiquid, high-beta asset, with derivatives positioning amplifying the move. Spot activity is mixed rather than euphoric: buyers outnumber sellers, but sell volume is larger. That suggests demand is absorbing distribution, while crowded shorts may be adding fuel through short-covering.
“I do not see enough evidence to call this a broad rotation from Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana, or to prove that entirely new capital is entering. The move looks more idiosyncratic and leverage-sensitive than representative of a wider crypto risk-on shift. Bitcoin has somewhat stronger derivative confirmation, but strength across majors remains uneven.
“The FOMC minutes are unlikely to determine the broader trend, but they can decide whether this type of positioning extends or unwinds. A more hawkish account would pressure yields and leveraged high-beta trades such as HYPE. A softer account would give the rally room to continue. My read is that HYPE is being driven by selective demand, liquidity, and positioning, not a clean fundamental rotation into crypto.”
– Nicolai Søndergaard, senior research analyst, Nansen
Bitcoin
“Bitcoin pushing back towards $69,000 could translate to more crypto-funded home purchases in the foreseeable future. Crypto-wealth-enabled home purchases have already increased by 35% year over year, highlighting growing momentum behind digital asset-funded real estate transactions.”
“There is a clear opportunity for trusted infrastructure that enables buyers to seamlessly convert digital assets into U.S. dollars and complete property purchases with conviction. Additionally, an estimated 67 million Americans (roughly one in four adults) own crypto, demonstrating the rapidly expanding pool of potential homebuyers with wealth held in digital assets. That demand is already reaching the housing market, with 12.7% of Gen Z and Millennial homebuyers reporting they sold crypto to help fund a down payment. “
– John Ioannou, founder, CryptEscrow
“This week’s Bitcoin bump was a quick reaction to the US Treasury doubling its buybacks of long-dated bonds from $2 to $4 billion, a tiny but symbolic amount. This news drove the price up to the 200-week SMA, where it was rejected. We are at the final stages of the bear market, where news and macro determine whether we have one last leg down or begin the slow road back to the next bull market.”
– Michael Terpin, CEO, CryptEscrow
“Bitcoin surging towards the $69k mark today shows how quickly confidence can return to crypto. A daily gain of roughly 6% suggests investors are moving back into risk after weeks of uncertainty around interest rates, regulation and geopolitical tensions. It is especially significant because $69,000 has recently acted as a major resistance level, where many shorter-term holders are close to breaking even.”
“The wider crypto market usually takes its cue from Bitcoin. If Bitcoin holds these levels, capital may begin rotating into Ethereum, Solana and smaller altcoins as traders become more comfortable taking risks.”
“However, one strong day does not confirm a new bull market. Bitcoin still needs sustained spot demand, improving liquidity and regulatory progress to make the move convincing. For decentralized payments, the impact is more indirect. A higher Bitcoin price attracts users, investment and institutional attention, which can support wallets, exchanges and payment infrastructure.”
“But volatile Bitcoin is still awkward for everyday purchases. Stablecoins remain the more practical payment tool because they offer blockchain settlement without forcing businesses to absorb large price swings.”
– Joshua Kim, founder and CEO, DonaFi
“Long-term holders are realizing losses (albeit minimal) at the deepest ratios since June, short-term holders are transacting at break-even, and the aggregate profit ratio of every coin moved on-chain has now closed below par for 10 consecutive sessions.”
“The supply available to be spent at a profit is increasingly constrained and the constraint favors bullish price action by mitigating selling interest at the range highs.”
“In December we expressed that long-term holder sell pressure approaches saturation as the two-year supply overhang clears. This is what the terminal stage of that process looks like in the tape.”
– Bitfinex