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Kara Swisher Downplays Crypto's Significance: 'It's Not the Center of Everything'

The author of "Burn Book" says argued that the cryptocurrency sector has been caught up in a "huge hype cycle" with a considerable amount of "scammery" involved.

Von Sam Reynolds|Bearbeitet von Nick Baker
Aktualisiert 25. Apr. 2024, 4:39 p.m. Veröffentlicht 25. Apr. 2024, 4:32 p.m. Übersetzt von KI
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  • Tech journalist and author Kara Swisher downplayed crypto's transformative potential, comparing it to a minor eruption versus the internet's major explosion.
  • Swisher criticized crypto's hype and "scammery," predicting digital assets will settle as a niche within the broader tech landscape.
  • AI is now the focus, attracting major tech interest and investment, though it faces its own inflated hype cycle.

In an interview with CoinDesk's First Mover, technology journalist Kara Swisher, author of the New York Times bestseller "Burn Book," said that she is skeptical that cryptocurrencies have transformative potential, calling digital assets important but not world-changing.

"The internet was a major Cambrian explosion. This is a tiny one. I guess a volcanic eruption on Indonesia," she said on First Mover. "It's a very important area of technology, but it's not the most important. It's not the center of everything."

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Swisher argued that the cryptocurrency sector has been caught up in a "huge hype cycle" with a considerable amount of "scammery" involved.

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"Crypto people really overplayed their hand in that regard, saying it's going to change everything," she said. "This is a typical thing of technologists … [saying] that it's going to change the whole world."

Swisher believes crypto will ultimately settle into being just another niche within the broader tech landscape, comparing it to many other technological innovations that have come and gone without reshaping the world.

"It needs to replace something that's better. Digital downloads of books, for instance, aren't necessarily better than physical books, but they are very good," she said. "[Crypto] overstepped itself, but it will settle into a nice, small corner."

What follows crypto?

So if crypto is fizzing out, and is yet to fulfill the grand visions of its most ardent supporters, where is the the hype going?

Artificial intelligence, says Swisher.

AI isn't profitable yet because "these ventures are very costly, requiring substantial investment in computing power and development," she said.

"Unlike the early internet era, where anyone could launch ventures like Uber or Airbnb inexpensively, AI requires significant capital," she continued, citing OpenAI's Sam Altman wanting to raise enormous sums for projects like chip manufacturing.

"Only the big companies can afford to lose this money and afford to pay for this," she said.

But AI has captured the interest of the public and major tech companies in a way that's taken some of the momentum away from blockchain and crypto, albeit not without its own hype and exaggerated claims similar to those seen in the crypto space.

"AI is a big deal in comparison," she said. "It's just that everyone has to slap AI onto their company name, and then they're an AI company."

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Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.

  • Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
  • Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions. 
  • Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.

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