‘We Have Lost Control’: AI Threats to Banking and Infrastructure Grow

Marc van der Chijs, the entrepreneur who co-founded bitcoin mining company Hut 8, has shifted much of his bitcoin investment into artificial intelligence. He is now moving some of those AI gains back into crypto as concerns grow over the speed and risks of AI development.

Van der Chijs said his view of AI has become more pessimistic in recent days, even though he continues to believe the technology could dramatically reshape the economy.

“I’ve become more of a doomer over the past week, to be honest,” he told CoinDesk.

His position has evolved from the optimism he once shared about AI, which he compared with his early experience in bitcoin after entering the market in 2013. He still expects AI to have a transformative economic impact, but he is increasingly concerned that humans may struggle to keep pace with increasingly capable systems.

“We have lost control, actually,” he said. He added that the industry may be advancing too quickly until humans regain stronger control over the technology.

His concerns are similar to warnings from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who has called for caution around the development of frontier AI systems. Amodei has warned that models capable of increasingly autonomous improvement could eventually exceed effective human oversight and create risks for critical infrastructure.

Van der Chijs said the competitive race between technology companies and governments makes slowing down difficult. Individual players have an incentive to keep advancing because voluntarily stepping back could leave them behind competitors. He believes that dynamic could raise the risk of systemic disruption before international safeguards are established.

Banking Systems Could Face New Vulnerabilities

Van der Chijs believes governments may only coordinate more closely on AI after a serious disruption. Such an event could affect financial systems or critical infrastructure, he said.

He is particularly concerned about older banking technology. More advanced AI could identify weaknesses in legacy software, potentially undermining confidence in financial institutions that rely on interconnected systems.

In crypto, Van der Chijs considers exchanges and businesses built around bitcoin more vulnerable than the Bitcoin network itself.

Despite his concerns, he remains bullish on AI’s broader economic potential. He expects AI and robotics could eventually handle 90% to 95% of existing jobs, which could substantially reduce the cost of goods and services.

That shift could force governments to find new sources of tax revenue as traditional employment changes. Van der Chijs suggested taxes on robots or AI token usage, while acknowledging that locally operated AI models could make enforcement more difficult.

His own portfolio has already reflected the changing investment landscape.

“I sold a lot of my bitcoin. I went into AI,” he said.

Van der Chijs believes the flow of capital into AI contributed to bitcoin remaining below the $200,000 to $250,000 levels he and other investors had previously anticipated.

He is now putting some of his AI profits back into cryptocurrency, mainly through exchange-traded funds.

He also sees AI infrastructure as a stronger business opportunity than bitcoin mining. Speaking personally, he described Hut 8’s transition into AI as “the best move ever” and said he would direct the company entirely toward AI data centers if he were in charge today.

Long-Term AI Potential Remains

Van der Chijs’ concerns about AI safety have not changed his belief that the technology could generate enormous economic value. However, he remains cautious about valuations across the AI sector.

Over the next five years, he believes Tesla and SpaceX could outperform Anthropic, while still expecting leading AI developers to potentially become some of the world’s largest companies.

Bitcoin retains a unique place in his long-term investment view. If he could hold only one asset for the rest of his life, Van der Chijs said he would choose bitcoin.