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Xinmei Shen

Anxiety over the booming AI trade and bitcoin’s uncertain future is overshadowing this year’s Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong, as a lingering crypto slump dampens enthusiasm despite a star appearance by Binance founder Zhao Changpeng.
Zhao, known in the industry as “CZ”, struck a bullish tone during his highly anticipated appearance on Thursday. Speaking to a large crowd, the 48-year-old billionaire entrepreneur drew applause and cheers by declaring that bitcoin “will for sure become more important than gold”.
“I think bitcoin will overtake gold pretty soon,” he added. The former Binance CEO also commended the United Arab Emirates for having “the most progressive crypto regulations”, while noting that Hong Kong was “moving pretty quickly” compared to a “little bit more conservative” Singapore.
His optimism stood in stark contrast to the prevailing mood at the conference.
“Psychologically, I think this has been one of the hardest bear markets we’ve had, because this time it wasn’t just the price of bitcoin that took a hit,” said Brandon Green, CEO of conference organiser BTC, during his opening address.
“This time, the bitcoiners’ ego also took a hit.”
Capital, talent and public attention had moved from crypto to artificial intelligence, leaving the digital asset industry feeling “smaller”, Green noted.

Bitcoin Asia – the regional edition of one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency events – debuted in Hong Kong in 2024 at the invitation of the local government, which continues to position the city as a digital asset hub.
However, this year’s gathering appeared to lack the buzz of last year’s edition, which featured Eric Trump, the second-born son of US President Donald Trump, promoting his American Bitcoin venture.
While the younger Trump hailed China as “a hell of a power” in crypto during the 2025 event, a senior Hong Kong official from the city’s Securities and Futures Commission and legislator Johnny Ng Kit-chong pulled out at the last minute amid rising US-China trade tensions.
Ng returned to the conference stage this year, touting Hong Kong as an “undisputed premier hub for bitcoin and the Web3 ecosystem in Asia” while praising the industry’s “incredible resilience” through “short-term volatility”.
Earlier this week, bitcoin broke above US$80,000 for the first time in three months following a downturn that wiped out nearly half its value earlier this year. However, analysts cautioned against viewing the rebound as a definitive bull market return.
On Thursday, bitcoin remained nearly 37 per cent below its record high of US$126,000 set in October.
Compounding market uncertainties, surging demand for AI computing power has driven several bitcoin mining firms to pivot towards computing infrastructure.
Canaan, for instance, a Hangzhou-founded and Singapore-headquartered mining giant, is expanding into energy-related compute infrastructure, according to Leo Wang, vice-president of capital markets and corporate development.
“The future of bitcoin may become increasingly narrow,” Wang said on the sidelines of the event. He pointed to bitcoin’s once-every-four-years “halving” events – programmed code updates that cut miner rewards in half to control inflation – which naturally reduce token production and thin out mining participation.
Wang believed that while the industry would not disappear, the era of hyper-growth and windfall profits was over. Still, he reaffirmed that bitcoin remained Canaan’s core business.


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Capital, talent and public attention have moved from crypto to AI, leaving the digital asset industry feeling ‘smaller’, says organiser


Capital, talent and public attention have moved from crypto to AI, leaving the digital asset industry feeling ‘smaller’, says organiser.


Crypto slump, AI boom overshadow CZ’s bullish pitch at Hong Kong’s Bitcoin Asia

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Capital, talent and public attention have moved from crypto to AI, leaving the digital asset industry feeling ‘smaller’, says organiser

Capital, talent and public attention have moved from crypto to AI, leaving the digital asset industry feeling ‘smaller’, says organiser