Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has firmly rejected a prediction that advances in artificial intelligence could undermine Bitcoin’s security and trigger a price drop of more than 50% within two years.
In a direct response on X, Buterin said he takes the opposite side of the forecast, noting that roughly 90% of his net worth is already effectively positioned against such an outcome.
He wrote,
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“I take the opposite side of that. My basic reasons are that I am quite optimistic about cybersecurity in the long term. I see the primary problem as being the transition. I expect BTC to handle at least any issues that do not require social consensus well (upgrading clients, mining pools, etc to deal with network-layer hacks is in this category) (and I think the probability of actual breaks in hashes or PoW is tiny). I would offer a bet, but given what my holdings are I’m basically taking this bet (I assume you believe the same re ETH) with 90% of my net worth already”.
The original claim in this conversation came from Silicon Valley angel investor and AI-risk commentator Liron Shapira, who said BTC prices will crash 50%+ in the next 2 years because AI is undermining what people imagined were its security or robustness guarantees.
His argument goes beyond the usual concerns about market volatility, regulation, or macroeconomic conditions, focusing instead on whether Bitcoin’s technological foundations can remain secure as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable.
According to Shapira’s thesis, increasingly sophisticated AI systems could eventually identify vulnerabilities, automate complex cyberattacks, or expose weaknesses across the infrastructure supporting Bitcoin.
Even if the underlying cryptography were not immediately broken, a credible discovery of a major vulnerability could undermine investor confidence in the network.
Such a development could have significant consequences for Bitcoin’s price. The cryptocurrency’s value is partly built on the belief that its transactions, ownership structure, and underlying network are highly resistant to manipulation.
If AI were to challenge those assumptions, investors could begin reassessing Bitcoin’s risk profile, potentially triggering large-scale selling and a sharp decline in its market value
However, Buterin countered that he remains quite optimistic about cybersecurity over the long term. He identified the main challenge as managing the transition period rather than any fundamental collapse.
He argued that Bitcoin should handle most problems that do not require changes to the network’s social consensus, such as upgrading clients and mining pools to address network-layer attacks.
In contrast, he described the probability of actual breaks in Bitcoin’s hash functions or proof-of-work mechanism as tiny. The remark underscores his strong personal conviction in the resilience of the cryptographic foundations shared across major blockchains, including those underlying Ethereum.
Bitcoin’s price history since the AI boom instead demonstrates considerable resilience. From approximately $16,600 at the beginning of 2023 to a record above $126,000 in 2025, the cryptocurrency experienced a dramatic appreciation while AI capabilities were advancing at an unprecedented pace.
Bitcoin’s subsequent weakness in 2026 also cannot simply be attributed to AI. Macroeconomic conditions, interest-rate expectations, liquidity, institutional flows, and broader risk appetite have remained major drivers of cryptocurrency prices.
Consequently, the claim that AI will crash Bitcoin by 50% or more should be viewed as a high-risk scenario rather than an established forecast
The conversation highlights a broader debate about how rapidly advancing AI might affect blockchain security. While AI could increase the sophistication of certain attacks, such as those targeting software clients or infrastructure, Buterin’s view centers on the adaptability of existing systems through routine upgrades rather than catastrophic cryptographic failure.
His comments suggest that practical vulnerabilities are more likely to be manageable than a sudden breakdown of core primitives like SHA-256 or the proof-of-work model itself.
The discussion has drawn attention across crypto circles, reinforcing ongoing conversations about the interplay between artificial intelligence and decentralized networks at a time when both technologies continue to evolve quickly.