Bitwise advisor Jeff Park stated in an interview published on June 17 that investors should focus less on Bitcoin's upside speculation and more on the risk of not owning it at all. Park argued that Bitcoin remains a hedge against fiat currency debasement, a function that could become increasingly critical as artificial intelligence reshapes labor, data ownership, and wealth distribution.

"If You Don't Own Bitcoin, You're Basically Short BTC"

Park asserted that investors often fixate on whether Bitcoin is too expensive, but the more significant issue is the downside risk of lacking exposure to an asset designed to resist monetary debasement. He referenced the history of dollar hegemony, from the Bretton Woods system to the Nixon shock, suggesting that the current financial system relies on fiscal discipline that is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

Bitcoin As Portfolio Insurance

According to Park, Bitcoin should be viewed as a core diversifier rather than merely a speculative asset. While he advocates for diversified portfolios, he noted that if limited to owning only two assets, Bitcoin would be one of them. The other, he suggested, would likely be a dollar-based income-producing asset, such as long-dated U.S. bonds, which could benefit if interest rates eventually decline.

Park believes that as AI centralizes economic power and fiat risks persist, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could function as both a store of value and a decentralized framework for attribution, ownership, and compensation. For investors, Park's message emphasizes that the primary risk may no longer be owning Bitcoin, but rather owning none.

While many investors view blockbuster AI-related IPOs as a threat to crypto liquidity, the SpaceX public offering could create a wealth effect that finds its way into Bitcoin and digital assets. SpaceX opened at $162 on Friday, above its $135 IPO price, after raising $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation. This makes it the seventh most valuable US company, ahead of Tesla Inc. Elon Musk stated on a JPMorgan Chase livestream before the IPO that SpaceX has been cash-flow positive since around 2015 and plans to deploy over 100,000 satellites in orbit and build AI data centers in space.

In an interview on June 16, Aaron Arnold, co-founder of Altcoin Daily, argued that capital currently flowing into AI investments is unlikely to remain concentrated there indefinitely. He said that investors are currently favoring AI because it represents the market’s strongest momentum trade, while crypto has become a value opportunity after an extended bear market.

Crypto Is A Value Trade

"Crypto is a value trade. If you’re a value investor, the crypto market is it right now. If you’re a momentum investor, that’s going into AI," Arnold stated. He believes investors are overly focused on short-term price action while overlooking longer-term structural trends supporting crypto adoption. "You cannot tell me the largest financial market in the world is tokenizing the stock market and that’s not a big mega trend," Arnold said.

Bitcoin Bottoming Process

Bitcoin remains in a bear market but Arnold believes the asset is already in the latter stages of its bottoming process. "Bitcoin in bear markets went back down to its 200-week moving average four times, 100% of the time," he said. While he expects several more months of consolidation, Arnold described the current environment as one of the strongest long-term accumulation opportunities available.

Arnold also defended Michael Saylor’s aggressive BTC acquisition strategy despite criticism surrounding Strategy’s recent sale of 32 BTC. He argued the sale was largely symbolic and designed to demonstrate to creditors and rating agencies that Bitcoin holdings could be monetized when necessary.