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

The existing financial framework was not created with machines in mind, but rather around the constraints of human existence, including geographical location, sleep patterns, and physical presence. However, as AI agents start to participate in economic activities, 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 discrepancy is evident everywhere: banks have limited hours due to human operational needs, payments are tied to countries because humans reside in them, and credit cards require physical identification and presence. In contrast, AI agents operate without interruption, are not bound by geographical locations, and do not rely on physical cards or bank visits. Moreover, they are increasingly capable of conducting transactions independently. All transactions involving AI agents occur online and are inherently global, Viswanathan explained in an interview with CoinDesk. This is where cryptocurrency begins 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. These tools enable companies to create and scale on-chain products without having to manage the complexities of blockchain systems themselves. Traditional finance is based on the assumption of friction, where cross-border payments involve currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees - a normal experience for humans but impractical for AI agents. AI agents require seamless, borderless transactions at any time, often in small increments, as well as programmability and direct control over funds via code, without relying on physical infrastructure or identity. Cryptocurrency offers exactly that: a global, always-on financial layer where value can flow as easily as data. 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, AI agents operate natively in code and can read zeros and ones as their native language, which is also the language of cryptocurrency. For years, cryptocurrency has attempted to become more human-friendly, but its underlying architecture was never designed with humans in mind. 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. Just as email is more powerful than the postal system because it is designed for computers, cryptocurrency is similar. Looking ahead, 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 would be a financial system that is more global, programmable, and autonomous, with a layered structure consisting of traditional finance and cryptocurrency as the base, an agent layer operating on top, and a human interface above that. According to Viswanathan, just as computers operate the internet and humans use it, agents will operate finance.