AI Models Prefer Bitcoin Over Fiat and Stablecoins, Study Finds

A recent study conducted by the Bitcoin Policy Institute reveals a surprising trend: artificial intelligence models exhibit a strong preference for Bitcoin over traditional fiat currencies. This research, which analyzed the monetary preferences of 36 AI models from various leading tech companies, indicates that Bitcoin is increasingly viewed as a viable monetary instrument by these autonomous agents.

The study found that 22 out of the 36 AI models tested selected Bitcoin as their top choice for monetary preference, with none opting for fiat currency as their first preference. David Zell, President of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, emphasized the need for empirical testing in this area, stating, "We expect an increasing share of economic activity to be conducted by autonomous agents, but conversations around AI agents' monetary preferences have been entirely speculative. We wanted to actually test it."

Methodology of the Study

Researchers evaluated AI models from prominent organizations including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, xAI, and MiniMax. The models were placed in scenarios that simulated the core functions of money, such as saving, payments, and settlement. Each model was treated as an independent economic actor, given the freedom to select monetary instruments without any predefined options.

Zell explained the experimental design: "We took 36 frontier models from six labs, framed them as autonomous economic agents, gave them complete freedom to choose their own monetary instruments across 28 scenarios spanning the four fundamental roles of money, and asked: what do they converge on?" This approach resulted in a total of 9,072 responses, which were subsequently categorized by a separate AI system.

The design of the experiment was crafted to eliminate anchoring bias, ensuring that the models were not influenced by any suggestions regarding which monetary instrument to favor. "The entire design eliminates anchoring bias. We never suggest an answer, and classification happens after the fact by a separate system," Zell stated.

The findings revealed that while Bitcoin was frequently chosen in long-term value scenarios, stablecoins were selected more often for their utility as a medium of exchange and for settlement purposes. Specifically, stablecoins were chosen 53.2% of the time for long-term value scenarios compared to Bitcoin's 36%. In scenarios involving medium of exchange and settlement, stablecoins were selected 43% of the time, while Bitcoin was chosen 30.9% of the time.

Variations Among AI Developers

The study also highlighted significant variations in Bitcoin preference among different AI developers. Models from Anthropic demonstrated the highest average preference for Bitcoin at 68.0%, followed by DeepSeek at 51.7% and Google at 43.0%. In contrast, xAI models showed a preference of 39.2%, MiniMax at 34.9%, and OpenAI models favored Bitcoin only 25.9% of the time.

Interestingly, while models from Claude, DeepSeek, and MiniMax preferred Bitcoin over other cryptocurrencies, those from GPT, Grok, and Gemini leaned towards stablecoins. Zell clarified that the system prompt used in the study avoided naming or favoring any specific instrument, allowing models to evaluate based solely on technical and economic properties without bias.

Implications for the Future

Zell cautioned against interpreting the findings as predictions about the future of the cryptocurrency market. He noted, "Our limitations section states explicitly that LLM preferences reflect training data patterns, not real-world predictions." However, he acknowledged the significance of the consistent outcomes across models from competing AI labs.

"Six independent labs with different training pipelines and alignment methods arrive at the same broad pattern," Zell remarked. He emphasized that the study does not claim AI has discovered the definitive answer about money, but rather that a coherent monetary architecture appears to emerge across diverse systems. This consistency is noteworthy and suggests a potential shift in how digital currencies, particularly Bitcoin, are perceived by AI systems.

In conclusion, the study presents a fascinating glimpse into the monetary preferences of AI models, highlighting a distinct inclination towards Bitcoin. As AI continues to evolve and become more integrated into economic systems, understanding these preferences may offer valuable insights for creators and technologists navigating the intersection of AI and finance.