AI fever takes over Davos pushing crypto aside as the new cool kid on the block

DAVOS,
Switzerland
—
For
the
last
few
years
at
the
World
Economic
Forum
cryptocurrency
firms
dominated
the
main
strip
in
Davos,
promoting
their
wares.

But
in
2024,
artificial
intelligence
has
taken
over.
Some
of
the
world’s
biggest
companies
are
pushing
their
AI
products
and
services
with
one
declaring:
“The
future
is
AI.”

This
shift
underscores
the
rapid
rise
in
AI
investments
and
interest
last
year,
sparked
by
the
explosion
of
popularity
of
ChatGPT,
the
AI
chatbot
developed
by
OpenAI,
and
launched
at
the
end
of
2022.

Global
technology
companies
are
jostling
to
take
a
lead
position
in
AI
and
are
they
are
likely
hoping
their
big
statements
on
the
Davos
Promenade
will
serve
to
show
their
prowess
in
the
field.

Companies
from
U.S.
semiconductor
firm


Intel
to


Salesforce
had
AI
slogans
on
the
properties
they
took
over.
And
then
there
was
the
“AI
House”,
an
events
space
hosted
by
companies
including
Swiss
telecommunications
firm
Swisscom.

AI
dominated
the
Promenade
far
more
than
crypto
firms,
reversing
a
trend
from
the
past
few
years.

For
example,
at
the
World
Economic
Forum
in
January
2022,
even
after
the
price
of
cryptocurrencies
had
collapsed,
firms
were
touting

“Bitcoin
Pizza
Day”
and
so-called
non-fungible
tokens.
In
January
2023,
as

the
crypto
winter
had
set
in,
firms
pulled
back
on
splashing
the
cash
at
Davos,
but
there
was

still
a
heavy
presence
from
the
industry,
inclduing
a

mysterious
orange
bitcoin
car.

The
AI
dominance
makes
sense.

PitchBook’s
Emerging
Tech
Indicator,
which
tracks
angel,
seed,
and
early
stage
investments
at
the
world’s
15
most
successful
venture
firms,
found
that
AI
and
machine
learning
startups
gained
far
more
investment
in
the
third
quarter.
The
buzzy
tech
pulled
in
around
$600
million
over
the
three
months,
compared
to
just
over
$100
million
for
Web3
and
decentralized
finance
companies.

Nvidia,
which
was
the
poster
child
for
AI
in
the
public
markets,

saw
a
239%
rally
in
its
stock
in
2023.
The
AI
hype
shows
little
signs
of
fading.

The
crypto
industry,
for
its
part,
seems
to
be
OK
with
the
shift
at
Davos.

Dante
Disparte,
the
chief
strategy
officer
for
Circle,
issuer
of
the
popular
U.S.
dollar-pegged
stablecoin


USDC,
has
been
a
Davos
regular.
For
the
last
eight
years,
Disparte
tells
CNBC
that
the
blockchain
and
crypto
industry
had
to
“tell
the
story
of
the
technology,
as
opposed
to
the
story
of
results.”

“Today,
there
are
very
few
crypto
houses
along
the
Promenade.
They’re
all
AI
houses,
which
is
good,”
Disparte
said.
“That
suggests
that
this
is
becoming
a
background
technology.”

According
to
Disparte,
who
has
worked
extensively
with
lawmakers
on
Capitol
Hill
to
pass
through
legislation
on
stablecoins,
the
companies
and
players
left
standing
will
converge
with
traditional
banking,
finance
and
payments.

“It’s
not
dissimilar
to
the
way
the
internet
had
to
go
through
its
dotcom
bubble
phase
to
hand
over
the
development
of
the
Internet
to
more
durable,
trusting
and
safe
hands,”
Disparte
said.

“There’s
a
new
technology
kid
on
the
block,
which
means
that
I
get
to
become
a
vintage
player.
And
I
don’t
have
to
explain
the
tech
so
much
so
that’s
encouraging,”
he
added.

That’s
not
to
say
there
are
no
crypto
firms
present.
Circle
had
a
big
presence
on
the
Promenade.
A
Swiss
non-profit
industry
body
called
the
Global
Blockchain
Business
Council
also
had
an
events
space.
And
blockchain
firm
CasperLabs,
which
has
been
attending
for
the
past
few
years,
also
had
a
large
space.
But
overall,
it
was
certainly
more
muted
despite
the
crypto
industry
and
investors
appearing
to
have
had
a
better
year
in
2023
than
2022.


Bitcoin
rallied
more
than
150%
in
2023.

There’s
a
narrative
in
the
industry
that
crypto
companies
no
longer
have
to
prove
themselves.
Some
view
the
approval
of
a
bitcoin
ETF
by
the
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
last
week
as
a
moment
that
has
locked
in
crypto’s
place
as
a
legitimate
asset
class.

—

CNBC’s
Ryan
Browne
contributed
to
this
report.