Alchemy CEO Claims Crypto was Designed for AI, Not Humans

The existing financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around human constraints such as geographical location, sleep patterns, and physical presence. However, as AI agents start to participate in the economy, this human-centric design is becoming a bottleneck, according to Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder of crypto firm Alchemy. Viswanathan argues that crypto was actually built for AI agents, not humans. The current financial system has limitations such as operating hours, country-specific payments, and credit cards that require physical identity and presence, which are not suitable for AI agents that do not sleep, have no physical location, and do not use traditional payment methods. AI agents operate online, are inherently global, and require seamless transactions across borders at any time, often in small increments. They also need programmability, direct control over money via code, and systems that do not depend on physical infrastructure or identity, which is exactly what crypto offers. Crypto provides a global, always-on financial layer where value can move as easily as data, making it the ideal infrastructure for AI agents. The complexity of crypto, including seed phrases, private keys, and interacting directly with code, is actually a strength for machines, as they operate natively in code. Viswanathan believes that as AI agents start to use crypto, the complexity will flip, and what was once difficult for humans will become powerful for machines. He compares this shift to the transition from the postal system to the internet, where communication became much faster and more efficient. In the future, AI agents will sit on top of crypto infrastructure, handling complexity automatically, managing wallets, executing transactions, and optimizing capital flows in real time, making it easier for people to control their funds. This will result in a more global, programmable, and autonomous financial system, with a layered structure consisting of traditional finance and crypto as the base, an agent layer operating on top, and a human interface above that.