AI slowdown concerns weigh on tech stocks, crypto market strengthens against the trend

September 14 — The crypto market has recently shown notably stronger performance than other risk assets. Bitcoin rose over 1% in the past 24 hours, climbing to around $77,800, while Ethereum gained about 2% to $2,500; meanwhile, AI and tech stocks came under broad pressure amid market concerns that frontier AI development may slow.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently called for slowing frontier AI development, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk supporting a more cautious pace of development. The market worries that a slowdown in AI development could delay advanced chip orders and computing power demand, with CoreWeave and Cipher Digital both down about 6% in pre-market trading, MARA down 5%, and IREN down 4%.

By contrast, the crypto market is being supported by rising expectations for the U.S. Digital Asset Market Structure Act (CLARITY Act). Polymarket data shows the probability of the bill being signed into law this year has risen to about 30%, up sharply from 12% in early September, with the Senate set to hold a procedural vote on Tuesday.