Crypto Is Better Suited for AI Agents Than Humans, According to Alchemy's CEO

The existing financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around human constraints such as geographical location, sleep patterns, paperwork, 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 the crypto firm Alchemy. Viswanathan suggests that cryptocurrency was actually built for AI agents, not humans. The traditional financial system is characterized by limitations such as operating hours, country-specific payments, and credit cards that require physical identity and presence. In contrast, AI agents do not sleep, have no physical location, and do not use traditional banking systems or credit cards. They are designed to transact online and operate globally. Viswanathan believes that cryptocurrency is the native infrastructure for this new type of economic actor. Alchemy, a crypto infrastructure company, provides the necessary tools and services for developers to build blockchain-based applications, enabling companies to create and scale on-chain products without managing the complexity of blockchain systems themselves. Traditional finance is based on a system that assumes friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees. However, for AI agents, this system is impractical. They require seamless, programmable, and direct control over money via code, without relying on physical infrastructure or identity. Cryptocurrency offers exactly that - a global, always-on financial layer where value can move as easily as data. The complexity of cryptocurrency, including seed phrases, private keys, and interacting with code, is actually a strength when it comes to machines. AI agents operate natively in code and can read zeros and ones, which is also the language of cryptocurrency. Viswanathan compares the shift from crypto tools being built for humans to being used by AI agents to the transition from the postal system to the internet. He envisions a future where 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 would result in a more global, programmable, and autonomous financial system, with a layered structure consisting of traditional finance, crypto, an agent layer, and a human interface.