Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong criticizes crypto startups that rebrand to AI

"If you're in crypto, pivot to AI. I used to hear versions of this, and it's the wrong way to think about the world," Armstrong wrote in a Sunday post on X , calling the trend "zero-sum, scarcity thinking." Instead, he argued that crypto is general-purpose infrastructure, like electricity or the internet, that underpins the next big thing rather than competing with it. "It's an 'and,' not an 'or.'"

In an April article titled "AI Mania: The Reruns Have Started," The Wall Street Journal showed how corporate pivots to AI mirror the dot-com boom at the turn of the century and the 2017 blockchain craze. Historical data show that companies adding trendy buzzwords to their names often see an average short-term stock pump of over 50%, suggesting these shifts are driven by market hype rather than structural business changes.