BlackRock says AI is taking ‘oxygen away’ from Bitcoin

Robbie Mitchnick, the head of digital assets at BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), has warned that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom has been sucking the oxygen out of Bitcoin ($BTC).

Mitchnick said that everything not tied to the AI trade, including Bitcoin, has struggled since the start of Q4 2025, according to an interview with Yahoo Finance on June 22, 2026. As a result, investors have poured capital into AI-centric assets, such as AI stocks, at the expense of Bitcoin.

“It’s been a tough stretch for Bitcoin since last October for all of crypto, and that’s consistent in many ways with just about everything that is not AI-centric. The AI momentum is certainly sucking a lot of the oxygen out of the room,” Mitchnick said.

AI stocks outperform Bitcoin price in 2026

Additionally, Mitchnick noted that gold and precious metals have struggled alongside Bitcoin due to high demand for AI stocks. Some of the AI stocks that have outshined Bitcoin year-to-date (YTD) include Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD), and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO).

Meanwhile, the flagship coin has fallen around 28.9% YTD to trade at about $62,230 on June 23. As such, Bitcoin had a market cap of about $1.2 trillion at press time, which is lower than that of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX), despite SpaceX stock launching earlier this month.

BlackRock’s $BTC outlook

Nonetheless, Mitchnick sees a more powerful force on the horizon for Bitcoin. Precisely, he argued that the surging U.S. debt and deficits are potential tail winds.

Moreover, Jay Jacobs, a Managing Director at BlackRock and the firm’s U.S. Head of Equity ETFs, recently said that Bitcoin is too large for institutional investors to ignore. BlackRock already has several $BTC-related products, including the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA), and an indirect $BTC stake in Strategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR), all of which have seen significant outflows, as Finbold reported.