BlackRock: Artificial Intelligence Will Power the Next Crypto Bull Run , Not Another Token Boom

In the crypto world, the term “bull run” refers to a bull market: a period of rapid and sustained price growth across cryptocurrencies. During a bull run, investor optimism surges, trading volumes skyrocket, and the total market cap can add trillions of dollars in just months. Bitcoin usually leads the charge, followed by explosive gains in altcoins. It’s the exact opposite of a “bear market” or “crypto winter,” when prices fall or stagnate.

According to a top BlackRock executive, artificial intelligence (AI), not the next wave of new tokens - will be the main engine of the upcoming bull run. Robbie Mitchener, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, made the statement at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on March 24, 2026.

“Most tokens are just nonsense,” Mitchener said bluntly. Institutional clients of BlackRock are no longer spreading money across hundreds of altcoins. They are concentrating only on Bitcoin and Ethereum. Everything else is viewed as short-term speculation with “ferocious” turnover at the top of the charts.

Instead, Mitchener sees crypto as the infrastructure for the AI economy.

“Crypto is computer-native money, and AI is computer-native data and intelligence. There’s a natural symbiosis between them,” he explained.

AI agents are unlikely to use traditional banking rails like Fedwire or SWIFT, they need fast, computer-native money.

BlackRock notes that the convergence is already happening in practice: Bitcoin miners are massively repurposing their computing power for AI workloads. Companies like Hut 8, Core Scientific, and Iren are converting data centers for high-performance AI computing because it delivers more stable revenue than classic mining.

Against the backdrop of rapid AI development, Bitcoin could become a portfolio diversifier, a stable asset during periods of technological disruption.

Thus, instead of another “token boom” like 2021–2022 (when thousands of memecoins and DeFi projects appeared), BlackRock predicts a more mature growth cycle for crypto, driven by real utility in the AI economy. Institutions are already voting with dollars: focus on BTC and ETH + infrastructure for artificial intelligence.

Has the new bull run already begun? Bitcoin is hovering around $70,740 (at the time of the statement), institutional interest is growing, and AI is going mainstream. BlackRock, one of the largest traditional finance players, is sending a clear signal: the next big crypto rally won’t be about hype, it will be about real-world usefulness.