Tether CEO Identifies AI Bubble as Key Threat to Bitcoin

AI bubble could threaten Bitcoin in 2026, says Tether CEO.

A potential burst of the artificial intelligence industry bubble could adversely affect Bitcoin’s trajectory in 2026, according to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino during a Bitfinex podcast.

He believes the leading cryptocurrency remains too closely correlated with capital markets, making it vulnerable to stock market crashes and the rapidly expanding AI sector amid the technology boom.

“The so-called AI bubble reflects concerns that AI companies are overspending on infrastructure and data centers, attempting to build power plants worth billions of gigawatts, and buying up graphics processors,” Ardoino noted.

However, he emphasized that digital gold faces no other obstacles in the coming year. Interest in it is fueled by increasing adoption by pension funds and governments. The Tether CEO predicted “the end of the era of 80% corrections,” which the market experienced in 2018 and 2022.

Ardoino also views the direction of tokenized real-world assets positively.

“The only downside is that Bitcoin is still meant for Bitcoin. We don’t want 99% of the asset to be institutionalized,” he added.

According to the head of the USDT issuer, caution is advised with DAT companies: formally, they are ordinary treasury firms, and their success requires “incredible operational activity.”

Meanwhile, Tether is one of the largest partners of Twenty One, which is accumulating the leading cryptocurrency. During its debut session in December, its shares plummeted by 20%.

“The goal of Twenty One is to become an outstanding Bitcoin company that provides asset-related services and has a crypto treasury, a very important and large treasury,” Ardoino clarified.

Earlier, analysts from Bitwise and Grayscale released forecasts suggesting that the leading cryptocurrency will set a new price record in 2026.