- AI is stealing the spotlight from crypto, a Bitcoin mining exec says.
- Many Bitcoin mining stocks have fallen on the year despite a strong performance from Bitcoin.
Nvidia stock is all anyone in the market talks about, and that’s not good for crypto.
So says Youwei Yang, vice president of mining at BIT Mining, who told DL News that investors have passed over crypto stocks in favour of a new market narrative.
“Market and hot money is so focused on and obsessed with the AI track,” said Yang, who is also the Bitcoin mining firm’s chief economist.
Nvidia
It’s been hard not to notice Nvidia, which has soared some 154% since the start of the year and has earlier this month leapfrogged Apple’s $3 trillion in market value.
Nvidia is the market leader in creating the powerful computers used to train and operate artificial intelligence, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Meanwhile, mining stocks have struggled. Marathon Digital Holdings, the biggest Bitcoin mining company with a $5.6 billion market capitalisation, has dropped 13% this year.
BIT Mining shares are faring even worse, falling 48%.
That compares with the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq, which have been riding optimism about Federal Reserve policy to notch new records.
“The stock and particularly tech market now finds and regards every news to be bullish and FOMO” — he said, referring to investor fear of missing out. ”Crypto has lost its charm.”
Lost momentum
The crypto market has lost momentum after a strong start to the year fuelled by the approval and launch of 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January.
The snap approval of Ethereum spot ETFs in May temporarily breathed new life into crypto assets. But with the launch of Ethereum ETFs still weeks away, the market has endured a slow selloff.
Until crypto can “break out some convincing narrative or constructive advancement,” Yang said, “crypto will just be trading sideways waiting for major market shocks.”
Tim Craig is a DeFi Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tim@dlnews.com.
