Crypto Designed for AI, Not Humans, According to Alchemy CEO

The existing financial framework was not created with machines in mind, but rather around human limitations 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 hindrance, according to Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder of the crypto firm Alchemy. Viswanathan argues that cryptocurrency was essentially built for AI agents, not humans. The disparity is evident everywhere: banks have limited hours due to human constraints, payments are tied to countries because humans reside in them, and credit cards rely on physical identity and presence. In contrast, AI agents operate differently; they do not sleep, have no physical location, and do not use banks or cards. Moreover, they are increasingly involved in transactions, not just assisting with tasks. All transactions involving agents are online and inherently global, Viswanathan noted in an interview with CoinDesk. This is where cryptocurrency starts to resemble the native infrastructure for a new type of economic entity, rather than an alternative financial system. Alchemy, a crypto infrastructure company, provides developers with the necessary tools and services to build blockchain-based applications, including APIs, node infrastructure, and data services. Traditional finance is based on the assumption of friction, where cross-border payments involve currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees. While this may be normal for humans, it is impractical for AI agents, which require seamless, borderless transactions at any time, often in small increments. They need programmability, direct control over money via code, and systems that do not rely on physical infrastructure or identity. Cryptocurrency offers exactly that: a global, always-on financial layer where value can be transferred as easily as data. The complexity that has long made cryptocurrency challenging for humans, such as seed phrases and private keys, is precisely what makes it powerful for machines, according to Viswanathan. Unlike humans, agents operate natively in code, and their native language is zeros and ones, which is also the language of cryptocurrency. For years, cryptocurrency has attempted to become more human-friendly, but its underlying architecture was never designed for humans. Viswanathan compared the shift from crypto tools being built primarily for humans to crypto tools being used by AI agents to the transition from the postal system to the internet. While people once had to physically write and mail letters to communicate globally, modern communication is much faster. Email is far more powerful than the postal system because it is designed for computers, and cryptocurrency is similar. Moving forward, AI agents will utilize crypto infrastructure, handling complexity automatically, managing wallets, executing transactions, and optimizing capital flows in real time, allowing people to control their funds more easily. The result will be a financial system that is more global, programmable, and autonomous, with a layered future consisting of traditional finance and cryptocurrency as the base, an agent layer operating on top, and a human interface above that.