Alchemy CEO Claims Crypto Was Designed for AI, Not Humans

The current financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around human limitations such as geography, 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 crypto firm Alchemy. 'One could argue that cryptocurrency was built for AI agents, not humans,' Viswanathan stated. The disparity is evident everywhere: banks have limited hours due to human constraints, payments are tied to countries where people reside, and credit cards require physical identification and presence. In contrast, AI agents operate without interruption, have no physical presence, and do not use traditional banking methods or credit cards. Moreover, they are increasingly involved in transactions, not just assisting with tasks. 'All transactions for agents are conducted online and are inherently global,' Viswanathan explained in an interview with CoinDesk. This is where cryptocurrency starts to emerge as the native infrastructure for a new type of economic actor, 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 that support a wide range of products, from financial apps to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and games. Traditional finance is based on the assumption of friction, which is normal for humans but unusable for AI agents. Agents require seamless, borderless transactions at any time, often in small increments, as well as programmability and direct control over funds via code. Cryptocurrency offers exactly that: a global, always-on financial layer where value can be transferred as easily as data. 'Cryptocurrency is the global infrastructure for money that agents need,' Viswanathan said. The complexity that 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 and can read 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 cryptocurrency tools being built primarily for humans to being used by AI agents to the shift 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,' Viswanathan said. 'Cryptocurrency is similar.' Moving forward, AI agents will utilize cryptocurrency infrastructure, handling complexity automatically, managing wallets, executing transactions, and optimizing capital flows in real-time, allowing people to control their funds more easily. 'You can write code to manage a cryptocurrency wallet,' Viswanathan said. 'You cannot 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.