Buterin Dismisses AI-Triggered Bitcoin Crash Prediction
Vitalik Buterin has responded to Silicon Valley investor Liron Shapira's prediction that Bitcoin could crash by 50% or more within two years due to AI undermining its security guarantees. Buterin rejects this claim, saying he remains confident in Bitcoin's ability to address network-level problems without requiring broad social agreement.
According to Shapira, the risk of a 50%+ crash is not negligible, and he claims to have 50% confidence that it will happen within two years. He fears that faster AI could create new attacks against Bitcoin's technology protecting its security guarantees.
Buterin counters that the chance of a genuine breakthrough against Bitcoin's hash algorithms or Proof-of-Work (PoW) is 'tiny', and the main risk is how quickly the network can respond to a new threat. He emphasizes that developers and mining pools could upgrade their systems if necessary, making it easier for Bitcoin to adapt.
Notably, Buterin has a significant personal stake in this bet, as around 90% of his net worth is invested in cryptocurrencies. This makes him 'already on the other side' of Shapira's argument.