Kara Swisher Downplays Crypto's Significance: 'It's Not the Center of Everything'

In an interview with CoinDesk's First Mover, technology journalist Kara Swisher, author of the New York Times bestseller "Burn Book," said that she is skeptical that cryptocurrencies have transformative potential, calling digital assets important but not world-changing.

"The internet was a major Cambrian explosion. This is a tiny one. I guess a volcanic eruption on Indonesia," she said on First Mover. "It's a very important area of technology, but it's not the most important. It's not the center of everything."

Swisher argued that the cryptocurrency sector has been caught up in a "huge hype cycle" with a considerable amount of "scammery" involved.

"Crypto people really overplayed their hand in that regard, saying it's going to change everything," she said. "This is a typical thing of technologists … [saying] that it's going to change the whole world."

Swisher believes crypto will ultimately settle into being just another niche within the broader tech landscape, comparing it to many other technological innovations that have come and gone without reshaping the world.

"It needs to replace something that's better. Digital downloads of books, for instance, aren't necessarily better than physical books, but they are very good," she said. "[Crypto] overstepped itself, but it will settle into a nice, small corner."

So if crypto is fizzing out, and is yet to fulfill the grand visions of its most ardent supporters, where is the the hype going?

Artificial intelligence, says Swisher.

AI isn't profitable yet because "these ventures are very costly, requiring substantial investment in computing power and development," she said.

"Unlike the early internet era, where anyone could launch ventures like Uber or Airbnb inexpensively, AI requires significant capital," she continued, citing OpenAI's Sam Altman wanting to raise enormous sums for projects like chip manufacturing.

"Only the big companies can afford to lose this money and afford to pay for this," she said.

But AI has captured the interest of the public and major tech companies in a way that's taken some of the momentum away from blockchain and crypto, albeit not without its own hype and exaggerated claims similar to those seen in the crypto space.

"AI is a big deal in comparison," she said. "It's just that everyone has to slap AI onto their company name, and then they're an AI company."