Recently, I noticed something quite interesting in the crypto industry—some of the smartest people are leaving. Not just taking a break, but truly reallocating their time and capital elsewhere.

It all started with a pretty sharp statement from the founder of one of the most famous AI companies. When asked for the best advice for 20-year-olds, the answer was blunt: don’t waste time on cryptocurrency. This sparked many reactions in the crypto community—some made memes, some joked around, but others felt... stung. Because this isn’t just criticism; it’s a signal from one of the most influential entrepreneurs that cryptocurrency is no longer the optimal choice for the new generation.

But what’s more interesting than that statement is what’s happening behind the scenes. I see a clear pattern: talent migration from crypto to AI is happening massively.

Take Kyle Samani from Multicoin Capital, for example. He’s a quite legendary figure—known for his early speculation on Solana. Recently, he announced he’s leaving the crypto world entirely, shifting focus to AI and robotics. Even more extreme, he directly disparaged the crypto industry, saying that crypto is not as interesting as many people think. This isn’t just a shift; it’s a pretty brutal public exit.

Then there’s Shen Yu, co-founder of Cobo, who used to be an OG in the Bitcoin mining community. He’s known for deep insights into market cycles. But look at what’s happening now—more than 80% of his social media content last month was about AI, especially topics like AI agents. Crypto content? Almost none. He jokes that he’s successfully transformed himself.

Or Anthony Rose from zkSync and Nader Dabit from EigenLayer—both announced their departure from crypto projects to join AI companies. They didn’t just leave; they did so with a clear statement: “joining the future.”

But it’s not just talent. Capital is also moving. Paradigm, one of the most pure-play crypto VCs ever—famous for early investments in Uniswap, Lido, Optimism—is planning a fundraising round focused on AI and robotics, with a scale of up to $1.5 billion. This is a very clear signal.

Why is this happening? When we look at the data, the picture is very clear. Venture investment in the crypto industry continues to decline—from 1,639 deals in 2022 to 829 in 2025. The proportion of early-stage funding has fallen from 50% to below 35%. It’s like a demand curve in the investment market—demand for truly innovative new crypto projects is plummeting, while the supply from VCs looking to deploy capital remains high. The result? They have to look elsewhere.

AI is the obvious answer. From foundational models to AI agents, from compute chips to robotics—this industry can not only accommodate much larger scales of capital but also continues to generate fresh growth narratives. For a VC managing over $12.7 billion in assets, the question is no longer “do I still believe in crypto,” but “can I still generate competitive returns here?”

What’s most interesting is what’s happening at the community attention level. In the past, every breakthrough in AI would immediately lead the crypto community to find ways to capitalize—creating meme coins, promoting “Crypto+AI” projects, all to grab attention. But now? They’re starting to genuinely adopt AI tools. Crypto researchers share tutorials on setup, workflows, even how to train personal AI agents for coding and research. Some influencers are even starting side businesses setting up OpenAI for beginners. The crypto community is organizing meetups focused 100% on AI—almost no one discusses crypto anymore.

This is no longer just about chasing trends. It’s a genuine shift in attention. Crypto players who consider themselves progressive are starting to fear missing out on the AI era.

But behind all this, there’s something deeper happening. Crypto is in a phase where wealth creation is slowing down—cycles are slowing, alpha is shrinking, growth curves flattening. Meanwhile, AI is gaining momentum—continuously creating new things, shortening problem-solving times. When AI can write code in minutes that used to take hours, and models can generate content that previously required a team, the efficiency equation totally changes.

Maybe this is the moment to start thinking beyond crypto and AI. When efficiency tools like AI can handle routine problems, we might have more time for things that aren’t about profit—building personal meaning systems, developing taste and judgment independent of market fluctuations, creating personal value coordinates that are sustainable.

But for now, what’s clear is: the smartest people are reallocating. Talent goes first, capital follows, attention shifts last. This pattern has been proven many times throughout tech industry history.