Crypto loses speculative edge as AI and robotics attract capital: Delphi

A recent analysis suggests that the landscape of high-growth, speculative capital is undergoing a fundamental realignment. Cryptocurrency markets, which dominated risk-on sentiment for the better part of the last decade, are increasingly ceding their central role to emerging deep-tech sectors, specifically Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics. This shift, identified by market observers, points to investors prioritizing tangible technological utility over purely monetary speculation.

While blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) maintain a dedicated institutional base, the significant speculative premiums associated with the 2020-2022 crypto boom have largely dissipated. Regulatory uncertainty, particularly in major Western markets, contributes to lower volatility and diminished short-term profit potential, reducing crypto’s overall allure for quick speculative gains. The market’s increased maturity also means massive, rapid returns are less common than in the earlier expansion phases.

Conversely, AI and robotics are demonstrating exponential advancements in commercial viability, moving quickly from R&D into integrated industrial solutions. Venture Capital (VC) flows are increasingly directed toward foundational AI models, specialized hardware, and autonomous systems that promise massive productivity gains across manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics. These sectors offer a compelling narrative of foundational industrial transformation—a tangible outcome that investors are now favoring over the often-abstract utility of pure Web3 applications. This realignment indicates a maturation of investor priorities, moving from the purely decentralized and highly leveraged speculation characterizing crypto to investments tied directly to the forthcoming ‘Intelligence Revolution’ and quantifiable economic utility.

Source: Crypto loses speculative edge as AI and robotics attract capital: Delphi