Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has taken a firm stance against a recent prediction that artificial intelligence could cause Bitcoin’s price to fall more than 50 percent within two years. The forecast, made by investor and AI-risk commentator Liron Shapira, assigned a 50 percent confidence level to the idea that AI would weaken what market participants view as the network’s security or robustness guarantees.

Buterin stated he holds the opposite view. He expressed long-term optimism about cybersecurity while identifying the transition period, as both attackers and defenders adopt more capable AI tools, as the main challenge. In his assessment, Bitcoin is well positioned to manage most threats that do not require changes to the network’s social consensus.

Technical Upgrades Versus Fundamental Breaks

Buterin distinguished between operational vulnerabilities and deeper cryptographic failures. Network-layer attacks, flaws in client software, or issues affecting mining pools could be addressed through software upgrades by developers and operators. Such responses would not demand widespread agreement on altering Bitcoin’s core rules or transaction history.

He described the probability of actual breaks in Bitcoin’s hash functions or proof-of-work mechanism as tiny. Current AI systems have not demonstrated the ability to defeat established cryptographic primitives such as SHA-256. Instead, more plausible near-term risks involve surrounding infrastructure, including wallets, exchanges, mining coordination systems, and node software, where AI may accelerate vulnerability discovery or social-engineering attacks.

A recent incident involving insufficient entropy in certain COLDCARD-generated wallets illustrated this distinction. The problem led to estimated losses exceeding 1,000 BTC yet left Bitcoin’s underlying ledger and consensus rules intact. Users were advised to move funds to wallets created with secure external entropy sources.

Buterin’s Personal Exposure

Buterin noted that he would offer a formal bet on the matter but already holds an effective position through his existing assets. Approximately 90 percent of his net worth is exposed to crypto, primarily Ethereum. He observed that any fundamental cryptographic failure capable of undermining Bitcoin would likely affect shared assumptions underlying both networks.

Broader Context on AI and Bitcoin Security

Shapira’s prediction focuses in part on market perception. A loss of confidence in Bitcoin’s security guarantees could pressure prices even before any technical exploit occurs. Separately, other market participants have voiced related concerns. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has previously warned that rapid AI growth could divert capital and create credit shocks capable of driving Bitcoin lower. Critic Peter Schiff has argued that AI competes with Bitcoin for investment capital, electricity, and data-center resources.

In parallel, a coalition of more than 40 digital-asset organizations, including the Bitcoin Policy Institute, Block, Coinbase, and several development groups, has sought controlled access to advanced AI models for vetted open-source security teams. The group maintains that defenders need comparable tools to identify vulnerabilities before sophisticated attackers can exploit them. Researchers have flagged the risk that Bitcoin developers could lag AI-assisted attackers without adequate models, funding, and computing resources during the coming transition years.

At the time of the exchange, Bitcoin traded near $80,000 after reaching a recent three-month high of approximately $82,239. Large holders accumulated tens of thousands of BTC in the preceding month, according to on-chain data.

Buterin’s position rests on the view that Bitcoin’s design allows practical responses to most network-layer threats through ordinary client and infrastructure upgrades, while fundamental cryptographic breaks remain highly improbable over the stated timeframe.