SAN FRANCISCO, CA – As artificial intelligence dominates venture capital funding and grabs headlines, some in crypto are starting to wonder if the industry has missed its “ChatGPT moment” – or worse, if capital is moving away for good.
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at venture capital firm Dragonfly, categorically rejects this formulation.
“I would completely challenge this framework,” Qureshi said in an interview with CoinDesk at NEARCON 2026. “Less than 1% of AI users pay. That means 99% are using the free tier. Crypto doesn’t have a free tier.”
Comparisons between explosive consumer adoption of AI and the trajectory of crypto misunderstand the nature of the products, he argued. “There’s no free Bitcoin. There’s no free Ethereum,” he said, noting that while about 80% of Americans have tried some form of AI tool, about 15% have owned crypto — a figure he calls “a mass market phenomenon.”
For Qureshi, the best perspective is global utility, especially when it comes to payments. Stablecoins, he noted, have been growing steadily regardless of price fluctuations. “Stablecoin supply has increased by 50% year-over-year,” he said. “It’s exponential growth.”
Qureshi said the underlying fundamentals of crypto remain intact even as sentiment has cooled.
Follow the money
Venture capital investments have undeniably shifted towards AI. But Qureshi sees this less as an indictment of crypto and more as the market doing what markets do.
“Money is a leading indicator,” he said. “Human beings react to money – they don’t react to the reality on the ground. »
Crypto, even after several drawdowns, remains a $2 trillion asset class. And unlike AI giants like OpenAI, which employ thousands of people, crypto projects often operate with skeleton crews.
“We don’t have a 9,000-person company like OpenAI – and that’s a good thing,” Qureshi said. “Crypto is an incredibly powerful technology. You don’t need a lot of people to build things on a global scale.”
He sees the recent contraction as a correction after years of overfunding. “To the extent that too many people were building too many things in crypto, the market corrects that. It’s capitalism doing its job.”
In fact, Dragonfly recently announced a $650 million fund – a move that some observers called bold given the current market malaise.
“This is the best time to double down,” Qureshi said. “Why would you double down when prices are high? If you’re raising money and committing to record prices, that’s when you should be nervous.”
When asked if anything more existential had changed in crypto over the past four months, he was blunt: “Have the fundamentals of the industry changed that much? No.”
Crypto and AI: convergence or mirage?
As Dragonfly explores investments at the intersection of crypto and AI, Qureshi cautioned against assuming that AI will reignite crypto’s momentum.
“Will AI save crypto? F*** no,” he said. “AI agents using cryptography are so far away – it’s going to take years.”
He sees a familiar pattern of cryptography attaching itself to any ascending technological trend. “Chatbots are exciting? Great – we have chatbots with tokens. Agents are exciting? Great – you can buy the first layer for agents,” he said. “As an investor, you just need to slow down.”
This does not mean that crypto’s identity is straying from its roots. Recent narratives suggesting the industry has capitulated to Wall Street miss the point, Qureshi said.
“A lot of people say crypto has capitulated and become a tool of Wall Street. I think that’s stupid,” he said. “The beauty of Bitcoin is that it encompasses everyone’s use of the same technology. No one’s use overlaps with anyone else’s.”
Cycles, not a collapse
Qureshi attributes much of the current gloom to short time horizons and simple fatigue.
“People in crypto have a pathologically short horizon,” he said. “Prices have fallen several times.”
From ETF-driven surges to tariff-induced drawdowns, volatility has defined the industry for more than a decade. This pattern, he suggests, is neither new nor fatal.
“This idea that because prices are falling, no one will use stablecoins anymore? Absurd,” he said.
For Qureshi, the story is not about crypto being replaced by AI, nor its decline. It’s about cycles – and patience.
“Relax,” he said. “It’s not a disaster.”
Read more: Kraken Co-CEO Could Trust AI With 100% of His Crypto – Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi Isn’t Convinced
