Recently, some heavyweight investors on Wall Street are rethinking Bitcoin’s positioning in this market cycle. This doesn’t mean the AI boom is ending; rather, that easy-money phase may truly be over.

BlackRock Global Fixed Income Chief Investment Officer Rick Rieder, UBS Americas Wealth Management Chief Investment Officer Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, and Third Point hedge fund founder Daniel Loeb all expressed similar views at a recent industry conference: in 2026, economic growth may remain resilient, but the market’s focus is shifting.

Specifically, funds are moving out of those crowded large-cap technology stocks and into sectors such as industrials, electrification, and healthcare. What does this shift mean for the crypto market? Bitcoin may need to prove that it’s not just a high-risk asset, but also a more streamlined, more liquid investment option.

Rieder’s logic is quite interesting. He believes the U.S. economy could continue expanding even as interest rates decline, with AI-driven productivity improvements supporting economic growth, while a relatively moderate labor market prevents inflation from getting out of control. Under this “even cycle” growth pattern, Bitcoin’s traditional macro-hedging role may be less critical than before.

Hoffmann-Burchardi of UBS emphasizes that AI trading has entered its second phase. Over the past three years, the market rewarded companies that participated in building AI infrastructure. Now, winners and losers will diverge even more clearly. This means smaller coins that rely on broad AI narratives may face more scrutiny, but Bitcoin’s investment logic is simpler and more direct—it doesn’t need to prove any software revenue model or compete for market share in AI.

Loeb, meanwhile, has observed that the market has started rewarding investors who do deep stock selection and short-selling trades, with capital flowing to smaller companies in Europe, Japan, and Korea that produce key AI components.

Taken together, the market characteristics in 2026 may be: the economy continues growing, AI remains the dominant force, but the investment environment becomes more complex and more segmented. For Bitcoin, this could mean fewer opportunities for simple follow-the-crowd trades, and a greater need to attract investors through its own value proposition—whether as a hedging tool, a portfolio diversification approach, or a liquidity substitute in a more fragmented market.

It’s worth noting that Bhutan has recently quietly sold about 70% of the 13,000 Bitcoins it held last October, leaving only 3,954 BTC, worth approximately $280 million. The country also seems to have slowed or even paused its hydropower-driven Bitcoin mining business. All these signs indicate that even traditional supporters of Bitcoin are reassessing the asset’s role in the new cycle. The current BTC price is fluctuating around 72.89K, as the market waits for a clearer direction.