The recent surge in AI agents has led to the creation of 'agentic finance', where machines execute financial transactions, making crypto the backbone of this new economy. In this article, Vincent Chok from First Digital explores the use cases, risks, and expert opinions on AI agents in crypto.
The growth of AI agents is evident, with 79% of companies adopting them, and they are evolving from advisory to execution roles. Agentic finance can be broken down into three layers: agentic commerce, agentic payments, and asset management.
AI agents lack direct access to traditional financial infrastructure, which is where crypto comes in, offering programmable money, instant settlement, and permissionless access to funds. Early implementations of AI agents include machine-to-machine payments, autonomous commerce, and crypto-native trading. However, there are risks and limitations, particularly around security, authorization, and regulatory treatment. As the technology continues to grow, regulatory clarity and trust-building will be crucial for widespread adoption.
Over the next twelve months, key signals to watch include growth in agent-driven transactions, emergence of agent-native wallets, and deeper integration between stablecoins and AI-driven systems.