A new artificial intelligence-infused blockchain with Andreseen Horowitz’s backing is «ultimately designed as a replacement for Bitcoin,» according to its co-founder Travis Good.

The far-fetched claim is rooted in what Good prognosticates as unvarnished reality: Bitcoin’s encryption mechanisms are «getting really stale» and could be «completely obsolete within five years,» creating a business conundrum for the miners behind it.

«You’ve got people who’ve invested billions of dollars in hash power for securing a network in ASICs,» he told CoinDesk at this year’s ethDenver conference. «And the question is like, where do they all go?»

His answer is Ambient, a blockchain with deep capabilities in the AI space – the «future economy,» as Good puts it – that could become a «decentralized competitor to OpenAI.» The network operates on a proof-of-work mechanism with familiar appeal to bitcoin miners, he said, making it an easy switch.

«It’s a useful proof of work network, which we don’t think anyone has ever done well in crypto,» Good said.

Many crypto projects have attempted to fuse the two buzzy tech trends on the belief that blockchains and decentralized crowdsourcing can steer AI better toward delivering for humanity than singular, private corporations possibly could.

One of the biggest and best-funded is Bittensor. But Good claims the market leader is woefully deficient because it doesn’t actually run AI models on blockchain, despite its original intention to «be this global computer.» His alternative, Ambient, cooks AI into its core.

Whether Bitcoin miners – let alone users – would actually embrace a radically new and different network likely hinges on Ambient’s economic success. Good seeks for Ambient to deliver super-intelligent AI fast, cheap, and critically, in the open, so that users get the answers they paid for.

While Ambient’s security rhymes with Bitcoin’s, the network itself runs like Solana.

Ambient raised $7.2 million in seed funding from a16z’s crypto accelerator program as well as Delphi Digital, one of the VC world’s hungriest funds for crypto-AI crossover tech.

«Everyone in crypto is currently using centralized AI to power their apps, to power their frontend,» said Alex Golding, a venture associate at Delphi. He thinks that’s a big issue because it deprives users of understanding what the models are trained on and exposes them to getting hoodwinked with answers derived from inferior models.

«Verified inference» by miners (the heart of their rewards mechanism) acts as a provenance fact-checker, ensuring that answers spat out by Ambient originate from the model people paid to use.

«If you don’t have verified inference, you’re guaranteed to get rugged,» Good said, adding a hyperbolic warning: «Nation state actors are going to poison your model and just do fun stuff, like we saw with Lazarus,» North Korea’s hackers.

Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, has reportedly hired investment banks JPMorgan Chase and Citi as the underwriters of a hoped-for IPO, Fortune reported.

While timing is not yet totally decided, sources say Circle will publicly file its prospectus in late April, meaning a potential IPO perhaps prior to June.

The company had previously filed confidential paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January 2024.

Circle in 2021 had attempted to go public via a SPAC merger in 2021, but that attempt was derailed first by an intransigent SEC and then by the crypto collapse of 2022. It ultimately pulled the SPAC deal by the end 2022.

According to people familiar with the matter that spoke with Fortune, Circle is seeking a $4 billion to $5 billion valuation.

CoinDesk reported in July that the company was valued at roughly $5 billion in private secondary markets.

You’ve probably heard this at a dinner party: “If only we had bought Bitcoin ten years ago.” Now imagine that conversation echoing in the corridors of a central bank, where the stakes are a nation missing one of the most asymmetric financial opportunities of the century.

For emerging economies — countries like India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand, or Vietnam — strategic exposure to cryptocurrencies is essential for future economic resilience. They collectively represent over 40% of the global population and approximately 25% of global GDP, yet they remain vulnerable to external economic shocks, including currency fluctuations, trade disruptions, and more. Today, their sovereign reserves remain heavily reliant on traditional assets like gold and foreign exchange. But those aren’t sufficient hedges in a rapidly digitizing world.

Cryptocurrencies aren’t an experiment anymore. While Bitcoin is the most widely adopted, making it the primary example in this discussion, the broader argument applies to cryptocurrencies as a whole. The Bitcoin network has been operational for over 99.98% of the time since its inception in 2009. Cryptocurrencies have survived wars, regulatory crackdowns, and multiple financial crises. Over the last decade, bitcoin has appreciated nearly 200X, far outpacing tech giants like NVIDIA or Apple.

The crypto space, no denying, has faced scams, rug pulls, and bad actors. This is common in virtually any financial system — think early stock markets or banking. That’s why smart regulation is critical. Countries like Singapore, Japan, and Switzerland have already struck a balance between consumer protection and innovation, offering models for others. But these risks don’t negate crypto’s core appeal — they demand careful governance.

Diversification is key. Ask any central banker, fund manager, or financial advisor: you don’t put all your eggs in one basket, and you certainly don’t bet the future of an economy on a single asset class. In a world that’s rapidly digitizing, ignoring digital assets like cryptocurrencies is a mistake. These assets tend to have little correlation with how other traditional assets perform, making bitcoin a strong hedge against economic turbulence.

We’re seeing entire publicly listed companies built around bitcoin as a core asset. Take Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which started as a software firm and now holds over 506,137 BTC (approximately $42 billion as of writing). Countries like El Salvador have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. Vietnam, India, and Thailand rank among the top 10 countries globally for cryptocurrency adoption already. EAEs must follow this shift or fall behind.

Bitcoin isn’t the new digital gold — it serves a very different role. In many cultures, more so in mine, we Indians love our gold. We hoard it, gift it, and trust it as a store of value. Central banks across the world have been buying gold at a record pace in recent years. But gold wasn’t always the safe bet we think it is today — back in the 1980s, its price crashed by 60% before bouncing back.

Bitcoin brings new utility: it can be transferred anywhere in the world in minutes, divided into microscopic fractions, and secured with cryptographic protocols. Gold and Bitcoin share fundamental traits — they’re scarce, resilient, and hedge against uncertainty — but gold preserves value traditionally, while bitcoin expands possibilities digitally. They don’t replace each other; they work together.

Critics often dismiss crypto as mere speculation, but its utility is real. Major companies like Microsoft and Starbucks now accept bitcoin and stablecoins for transactions. U.S. bitcoin ETFs have attracted over $12 billion in institutional inflows within months. Crypto enables faster, cheaper remittances, cutting global fees from 6.4% to under 1%, saving billions for developing economies. With over $100 billion locked in DeFi protocols, it’s clear that the future of finance is already being built on blockchain.

Emerging economies should take a strategic, forward-looking step toward economic resilience. A 1-2% allocation in digital assets is smart, not a gamble. Track its performance, take cues from early movers like the U.S., El Salvador, and Strategy, and refine the approach as you go. Encourage financial institutions to experiment with crypto-backed financial instruments in a limited way. Proactive regulatory frameworks are vital to foster innovation while ensuring stability.

Countries must position themselves for the future. Holding digital assets reduces reliance on external financial systems and insulates them from geopolitical and monetary shifts. We’ve seen this playbook before — these countries weren’t the first to embrace digital payments, yet they built world-class infrastructure like India’s UPI, Brazil’s PIX, and Nigeria’s NIBSS. The same leadership is possible in crypto reserves. With the global crypto market nearing $3 trillion and institutional adoption accelerating, the question isn’t if this shift will happen—it’s who will lead it.

Emerging economies can start building a strategic reserve today or hear in five years at another dinner party in five years, “If only we had bought bitcoin in 2025.” The time is now.