Finance CEO Raoul Pal has expressed a clear preference for Solana over Bitcoin for reasons deeper than a simple asset comparison. The reasons for his latest crypto call go back to one of the crypto market’s biggest talking points: whether the next phase of the crypto industry will be led by Bitcoin’s store-of-value role or by high-speed networks built for mass activity. Raoul Pal Picks Solana Over Bitcoin Raoul Pal has never been short on comments relating to cryptocurrencies. However, his most recent Solana over Bitcoin preference came during one of the most closely watched moments from the recently concluded Consensus 2026 event in Miami. The choice was notable because Pal has always been associated with broad macro crypto commentary, and his market views often focus on liquidity cycles, network adoption, and price peaks . While at the event, Pal said he would choose Solana if he had to pick between Solana and Bitcoin. This choice is mostly due to his belief of where the higher-growth opportunity sits as the crypto industry moves deeper into the AI era. Particularly, Pal linked the future of crypto to artificial intelligence and described crypto as the ‘Universal Basic Equity’ of the AI age. Pal’s preference was attributed to Solana’s high throughput and low transaction costs, which could make it better suited for machine-to-machine microtransactions, AI-based activity, and fast DeFi interactions. Bitcoin, by comparison, functions mostly as a monetary asset, but it was not designed as a high-frequency execution layer for millions of small automated transactions. AI Agents Important To Pal’s Solana Preference Pal also predicted that within five years, AI agents will constitute 60% of DeFi users, surpassing human users. This means that the DeFi niche could have three AI agents for every two human users. This idea gives more context to why Solana would appeal to Pal in a direct comparison with Bitcoin. AI agents would likely need networks that can process frequent, low-cost transactions, and this is a niche where Solana has been outperforming Ethereum in recent years. The idea that Solana might one day outpace Bitcoin in terms of growth is highly unlikely at this point, but it fits a wider theme that dominated Consensus 2026. The conference was heavily focused on AI agents, DeFi, tokenization, stablecoins, and institutional crypto infrastructure, with major players from firms such as JPMorgan and Citigroup in attendance. Arthur Hayes, Chief Investment Officer at Maelstrom, also offered an interesting take from the Consensus main stage. Hayes noted that crypto doesn’t need regulation and that it exists outside of the system, which is in contrast with the regulatory accommodation on display at the event. Still on the AI front, Kevin O’Leary also noted at the event the importance of AI with the US’s competition with other countries, while Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse also said the company is not thinking about AI as a tool to reduce headcount. Featured image from Bunq, chart from TradingView
