Curve Founder Egorov: Crypto is Not a Toy, AI and Crypto are Not in Competition
Michael Egorov, founder of Curve, stated that the current market is filled with pessimistic views on Bitcoin and crypto assets, mainly because crypto is temporarily not the market's preferred direction, with AI stocks becoming the main focus.
Egorov emphasized that crypto is not a "toy"; its core value lies in providing self-sovereignty to every user, as well as a financial track that is always online and never stops. Institutions are adopting infrastructure without cumbersome intermediaries, and fundamentally, the crypto industry is in a better state than ever before.
He believes AI is a foundational technology but will also experience its own "valley of death." Replacing humans with AI will lead to AI outputs becoming AI inputs, resulting in a decline in quality, while the cost of maintaining the system will grow exponentially. The approach of large companies pushing for ubiquitous AI may report excessively high expenditures.
Egorov pointed out that both crypto and AI are foundational technologies, but they are not the same and are not in competition. He clearly stated: "Crypto is the future of finance."
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Michael Egorov, as the founder of Curve, has long been involved in the DeFi space and has experienced multiple market cycles. His recent statements continue to reflect his firm stance on the long-term value of crypto infrastructure, similar to his past emphasis on the fundamentals and adoption trends during periods of volatility in Curve's TVL.
In terms of capital flow, Egorov believes that funds are currently rotating from crypto to AI in the short term, but crypto's attribute as a non-intermediated financial track will continue to attract long-term institutional allocation. He strategically distinguishes AI as a general technology from crypto as financial infrastructure, avoiding viewing the two as zero-sum competition.
This perspective is akin to reflections after the DeFi and NFT booms of 2021-2022, and similar to the current path of institutions adopting stablecoins, RWA, and other crypto tools. The market is currently in a transitional phase where AI narratives dominate while crypto fundamentals are being repaired.
Essentially, this represents a transfer of pricing power: short-term market attention is shifting from crypto to AI, but the structural advantages of crypto as financial sovereignty are becoming apparent, as non-intermediated infrastructure reduces friction costs in traditional finance, concentrating long-term capital from the emotionally driven AI hotspots to crypto protocols with lasting adoption value.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
Narrative rotation does not equal fundamental death; true infrastructure always reveals its value after the hype recedes. AI consumes human input, while crypto grants human sovereignty; the technological paths differ, leading to vastly different outcomes. Everyone experiences a valley of death; those who survive are the ones who believe they are the future; crypto is the future of finance, not a subordinate of AI.