BlackRock’s Robbie Mitchnick, the head of digital assets, said that the investment firm is worried about Bitcoin as the AI technology has been “sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room.” He stressed that future investments will be determined by which assets are tied to AI, and those that are not will face severe scrutiny. Assets not connected to AI will be linked to the old-world way of life. BTC is in the crosshairs of that risk and could be left behind amid the ongoing AI boom.

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Bitcoin Mining Firms Switch To Provide AI Data Center Support

The BlackRock head explained that big capital is being poured into AI-centric assets since the start of 2025. The others are experiencing a decline in investments, as they have nothing to offer in building the tech. He said that AI stocks have outperformed Bitcoin in 2026, despite the industry facing capex issues.

“It’s been a tough stretch for Bitcoin since last October for all of crypto. And that’s consistent in many ways with just about everything that is not AI-centric. The AI momentum is certainly sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room,” Mitchnick said. Other assets are being seen as redundant or left behind in the ever-evolving world dominated by AI.

The worries come after Bitcoin mining firms have shifted from BTC to providing energy support for data centers. The firms have signed multi-billion-dollar contracts for energy supplies, leaving their core Bitcoin mining behind. AI is now more profitable than mining BTC, and the shift is a major glare for the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin mining companies such as Core Scientific, IREN, HIVE Digital, and TeraWulf, among others, are now providing energy support to AI data centers. BTC mining, which was their primary business, is now secondary, and AI takes first precedence. The move could have severe consequences for BTC as the years pass.