MarketPR
Capital that once tracked toward digital assets has been diverted by the artificial intelligence boom, Phemex chief executive Federico Variola said, and the damage goes beyond fund flows.
Variola argued that AI is also empowering attackers, and that the resulting rise in cybersecurity costs could push the crypto industry toward greater centralization. The capital diversion argument is the blunter claim.
Speculative money has a finite supply at any given moment, and when the AI trade dominates headlines and venture pipelines, crypto competes for a smaller share of that pool.
Variola did not attach a figure to the drag, but the framing is consistent with a cycle in which on-chain inflows have had to fight for attention against a technology narrative that has largely outrun them.
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