Macro investor Jordi Visser argues that the most profitable phase of the AI trade may already be behind the market, prompting the question of whether crypto will be the next destination for capital rotation. AI and crypto have been the two dominant growth narratives of the current cycle, and Visser's thesis puts the relationship between them in the spotlight at a moment when both are competing for the same pool of risk-on capital.

Why Jordi Visser Believes the Best AI Trade Window May Be Closing

Visser laid out his thesis in a video interview clip published on YouTube, in which he states that the highest-return stretch of the AI trade may be over.

The key distinction he draws is between the long-run adoption of AI as a technology and the shorter-term profitability of the AI trade as a market position. The former can continue expanding while the latter matures and produces diminishing returns.

This framing is significant because investor expectations and positioning tend to peak before fundamentals do. Once a theme is widely held and priced in, the outsized gains from early positioning are largely exhausted — even if the underlying technology continues to advance. That pattern has played out across prior market cycles, from internet infrastructure to mobile platforms, where broad adoption continued well after the strongest equity returns were captured.

Visser's argument is not that AI is finished. Rather, he contends that the phase in which the trade delivered its strongest returns may have already passed. For those tracking cross-market rotation narratives, this represents a call about where marginal capital flows next, not a verdict on AI itself.

If AI Leadership Fades, What Makes Crypto the Next Area to Watch?

The follow-on question is whether crypto becomes the next destination for risk capital seeking a high-beta growth theme. Visser has separately argued that bitcoin is effectively an AI trade in its own right — framing it as the one AI trade that AI itself cannot destroy, as reported by TradingView.

Reporting on his broader outlook suggests he anticipates a turn toward bitcoin and ethereum as the AI trade cools, according to Benzinga. The underlying logic connects macro sentiment and risk appetite to narrative momentum: as one theme saturates, capital searches for the next. The two themes already overlap at the product level — AI-adjacent crypto tokens, decentralized compute projects, and on-chain data marketplaces have drawn venture funding and retail attention throughout the cycle.

For that rotation to materialize, several signals would need to align in crypto's favor: improving risk appetite, a credible new narrative, and capital flows that follow the story. Market structure events illustrate how quickly positioning can shift — for example, the way liquidity moved after the March 12 BitMEX outage reshaped exchange dynamics.

The counter-case deserves equal attention. Elevated security losses across the sector, highlighted by a Blockaid report on crypto losses in the first half of 2026, and the still-developing regulatory landscape — including exchange moves into CFTC-regulated prediction markets — represent frictions that could weaken the case for crypto as the next trade.

Treated as scenario analysis rather than a forecast, Visser's thesis positions crypto as a conditional next trade. The opportunity hinges on capital actually rotating out of a maturing AI theme and into digital assets — an outcome that remains uncertain based on currently available evidence.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency and digital asset markets carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making decisions.