Phemex CEO Federico Variola isn’t mincing words: he says artificial intelligence is a straight-up negative for the crypto industry. According to him, AI is siphoning capital away from crypto, supercharging attackers, and ramping up security costs—pushing the whole ecosystem closer to centralization.

AI Projects Are Sucking Up Capital

Variola argues the AI boom has pulled both investor attention and money away from crypto. With so much hype around AI, he says, there's simply less cash flowing into blockchain projects—and that’s slowing down crypto innovation.

AI Makes Hackers Stronger

He points out that AI-powered tools are giving bad actors a serious edge, making it harder to protect both infrastructure and everyday users. The threats are getting more sophisticated, and security teams are under more pressure than ever to keep up.

Sky-High Security Costs Mean More Centralization

Variola warns that climbing cybersecurity expenses could force the industry to become even more centralized. When only well-resourced teams can handle the latest attack vectors, projects may have no choice but to move toward more controlled, less open models just to survive.

His take highlights the growing tension between AI progress and crypto’s core values: decentralization, open competition, and broad access to technology.