Pantera Capital founder and CEO Dan Morehead said cryptocurrency markets may be undervalued compared to artificial intelligence stocks, which he described as overheated after a strong run.
Speaking at an event in New York on Tuesday, Morehead framed the divergence as one of the biggest he has seen between the two sectors.
“It’s just my intuition that while AI is very important, it’s going to increase strongly in the long term, and it seems to be pretty fully priced right now,” he said.
By contrast, “crypto … is incredibly cheap,” according to Morehead.
Pantera’s internal data supports this view. Morehead said an index of leading AI companies “is trading at 33% off its log trend over the past four years,” while bitcoin has fallen well below its own historical trajectory. “It’s 43% off its trend,” he said, calling it “the biggest divergence we’ve seen in history.”
The gap comes as investor enthusiasm has turned heavily toward AI, with large funding rounds and rising public market valuations. Crypto, meanwhile, has struggled to regain momentum despite wider adoption and regulatory progress in the US
“Most institutions still don’t get it. They still have no exposure,” Morehead said, adding that limited participation leaves room for future demand. Only a minority of large investors currently hold digital assets, he noted, even as the asset class matures.
That dynamic contrasts with AI, where investors have moved quickly to price in expected growth. For Morehead, the imbalance creates an opportunity for those willing to look further.
He also pointed to structural cycles in crypto markets. “The four-year cycle is real,” he said, referring to bitcoin’s supply schedule. If past patterns hold, he suggested the market could remain in a weaker phase in the short term, although the long-term outlook remains positive.
Beyond relative valuations, Morehead tied crypto’s appeal to broader macro trends. He described digital assets as a hedge against currency depreciation, noting that inflation and monetary expansion have pushed investors toward scarce assets. “It’s actually all the stuff that doesn’t move. It’s a massive devaluation of paper money,” he said.
Morehead sees convergence between AI and blockchain technologies. Pantera has invested in several projects at that intersection, and Morehead argued that the two sectors are connected. “There’s really no world where AI is important that crypto isn’t part of it,” he said.
Pantera views crypto as a relative value trade for now As capital continues to flow into artificial intelligence, Morehead’s thesis rests on the idea that markets will eventually rebalance and draw attention back to digital assets, which he believes are still undervalued.
