BTC, ETH, SOL Might Be Used by AI: 8VC Founding Partner Joe Lonsdale

In a recent interview during CNBC’s Squawk Box, Joe Lonsdale discussed the current rapid AI development and whether Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may find use cases in the future by AI-focused companies.

Lonsdale is a founding partner of 8VC; he also founded Palantir Technologies, Addepar and the University of Austin in Texas. Right now, he seems to be passionate about the upcoming artificial intelligence era.

Lonsdale on potential Bitcoin and AI future interaction

When asked by host Joe Joe Kernen about Bitcoin, the current price drop after the approval of spot-based Bitcoin ETFs, Joe Lonsdale first of all agreed with the host that “Bitcoin is real.” Kernen believes that now that anyone can buy Bitcoin via an ETF, it would be hard for the price to go up high quickly again.

Bitcoin’s next move. @JTLonsdale talks crypto and the impact of AI. pic.twitter.com/owl66FUbbr

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 22, 2024

In response to that, Lonsdale stated that, in the future, a new type of active Bitcoin buyers may emerge, who are not regular investors or traders. The VC investor believes that they could be “AI agents.” If AI succeeds in certain consumer areas, according to Lonsdale, then “AI agents” may be using Bitcoin, tokenizing things, etc. He agreed with another Squawk Box cohost, Andew Sorkin, that AI may perhaps use not only Bitcoin (or track its price) but also Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), or all three coins together, and “they are probably correlated at the end of the day.”

Overall, Lonsdale reckons that, aside from using crypto, once AI is integrated fully into business processes, it may increase companies’ profits tremendously. However, per Lonsdale, that might not happen within just a few years – here he compared AI to electricity at the start of the 20th century.

“$500,000 per Bitcoin story”

As for the question, if he agrees to Cathie Wood’s recent Bitcoin price predictions of $500,000 and even $1,000,000, Lonsdale said that it will probably depend on a major factor – macroeconomic factors and where they will stand within the next few years.

If there is a massive deficit, and the government is “spending money responsibly,” then, Lonsdale says, “what asset is safe?” If there is major inflation in 2025-2026, and again we see government “misspending” and bonds sold off, then crypto can do very well, according to him.

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