Cryptocurrencies lost some of their shine at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW), where panels and events leaned heavily toward artificial intelligence topics.
At the Austin festival, only a handful of official sessions centered on crypto, while a separate downtown “Bitcoin Takeover” brought together BTC maximalists and industry figures. “Almost exactly the pattern that’s playing out with AI is what’s playing out with crypto,” Ali Tager, vice president of communications at the National Cryptocurrency Association, told Cointelegraph, noting public uncertainty in crypto’s early days. “I do believe that crypto is just a few years behind on that journey.”
Previous SXSWs highlighted different crypto-adjacent trends: NFTs dominated in 2022, Web3 was a major theme in 2023, and Coinbase executives featured in 2025. This year, many sessions focused on AI’s role in art, music, storytelling, and risk management, while only a small number of panels were crypto-focused and hosted by groups such as the NCA, the Solana Foundation, or Foundation Capital. “The energy is different every single year,” Tager said.
Some major U.S. Bitcoin miners are also shifting toward AI and high-performance computing amid rising BTC difficulty and costs. Companies including Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, MARA Holdings, Core Scientific, Hut 8, and TeraWulf have announced plans to repurpose parts of their data-center infrastructure for AI workloads.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy
