Alchemy CEO: Crypto is Better Suited for AI Agents Than Humans

The current financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around human limitations such as geographical constraints, sleep patterns, 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 crypto firm Alchemy. Viswanathan argues that crypto was actually built for AI agents, not humans. The traditional financial system is filled with 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 presence, and do not require traditional banking systems. They can transact online, globally, and seamlessly. This is where crypto comes in, providing a native infrastructure for AI agents to operate. Alchemy, a crypto infrastructure company, provides the necessary tools and services for developers to build blockchain-based applications. The company's CEO believes that traditional finance is built for the wrong user, assuming friction and intermediaries that are normal for humans but unusable for AI agents. Crypto, on the other hand, offers a global, always-on financial layer where value can move as easily as data. The complexity of crypto, including seed phrases and private keys, is actually a strength when it comes to machines, as they can operate natively in code. Viswanathan compares the shift from crypto being built for humans to being used by AI agents to the shift from the postal system to the internet. Just as email is more powerful than the postal system because it is designed for computers, crypto is more powerful because it is designed for machines. Looking to the future, Viswanathan sees a financial system where AI agents sit on top of crypto infrastructure, handling complexity, managing wallets, and optimizing capital flows in real-time. 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.