According to Alchemy's CEO, Cryptocurrency is Designed for AI, Not Humans

The existing financial system was not created with machines in mind. Instead, it was built around human limitations such as geographical location, sleep patterns, paperwork, and physical presence. However, as AI agents begin to participate in economic activities, this human-centric design is becoming a hindrance, according to Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder of the crypto firm Alchemy. "One could argue that cryptocurrency was built for AI agents, not humans," Viswanathan stated. The disparity is evident everywhere. Banks operate on human schedules, payments are tied to countries due to human residency, and credit cards require physical identification and presence. In contrast, AI agents operate differently. They do not require sleep, have no physical location, do not visit banks, and do not use credit cards. Moreover, they are increasingly involved in transactions, not just assisting with tasks. All transactions involving agents occur online and are inherently global, Viswanathan explained in an interview with CoinDesk. This is where cryptocurrency starts to resemble the native infrastructure for a new type of economic participant, rather than an alternative financial system. Alchemy, a crypto infrastructure company, provides developers with the underlying tools and services needed to build blockchain-based applications, including APIs, node infrastructure, and data services. These tools enable companies to build and scale on-chain products without having to manage the complexity of blockchain systems themselves. Traditional finance is based on the assumption of friction. For humans, this is normal, but for AI agents, it is impractical. Agents need to transact seamlessly across borders at any time, often in small increments, and require programmability and direct control over money via code. They also need systems that do not rely on physical infrastructure or identity. Cryptocurrency offers exactly that: a global, always-on financial layer where value can move as easily as data. "Cryptocurrency is the global infrastructure for money that agents need," Viswanathan said. What has long made cryptocurrency challenging for humans, including seed phrases, private keys, and interacting directly with code, is precisely what makes it powerful for machines. Unlike humans, agents operate natively in code. "Agents read in zeros and ones, which is their native language," Viswanathan said. "That's also the language of cryptocurrency." For years, cryptocurrency has tried to become more human-friendly, but its underlying architecture was never designed for humans. Viswanathan compared the shift from cryptocurrency tools being built primarily for humans to cryptocurrency tools being used by AI agents to the shift from the postal system to the internet. While people once had to physically write a letter, buy a stamp, and mail it to share messages globally, modern communication is much faster. "Email is far more powerful than the postal system because it's designed for computers," Viswanathan said. "Cryptocurrency is similar." Moving forward, AI agents will sit on top of cryptocurrency infrastructure, handling complexity automatically, managing wallets, executing transactions, and optimizing capital flows in real-time, making it easier for people to control their funds. "You can write code to manage a cryptocurrency wallet," Viswanathan said. "You can't write code to manage a bank account in the same way." The result will be a financial system that is more global, programmable, and autonomous. Viswanathan envisions a layered future: traditional finance and cryptocurrency as the base, an agent layer operating on top, and a human interface above that. "Just like computers operate the internet and humans use it, agents will operate finance," he said.