Crypto's True Intended Users Are AI Agents, Not Humans, According to Alchemy's CEO

The existing financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around the limitations of human life, including geographical constraints, sleep patterns, paperwork, 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 the crypto firm Alchemy. Viswanathan suggests that cryptocurrency was actually built for AI agents, not humans. The traditional financial system is filled with human-centric limitations, such as banking hours, country-specific payments, and credit cards that require physical identity and presence. In contrast, AI agents operate around the clock, are not bound by geography, and do not require physical interaction. As AI agents begin to transact and participate in the economy, they require a system that is inherently global, always-on, and programmable. This is where cryptocurrency comes in, offering a native infrastructure for these new economic actors. Traditional finance is built on the assumption of friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, and fees. However, for AI agents, this friction is unacceptable, and they require a system that allows for seamless, instant transactions across borders. Crypto provides exactly that, with a global, always-on financial layer where value can move as easily as data. What has historically made cryptocurrency difficult for humans to use, such as seed phrases and private keys, is actually a strength when it comes to AI agents, which operate natively in code. Viswanathan compares the shift from human-centric crypto tools to AI-centric crypto tools 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, cryptocurrency is more powerful because it is designed for machines. Looking to the future, Viswanathan envisions a financial system where AI agents sit on top of crypto infrastructure, handling complexity, managing wallets, and optimizing capital flows in real-time, making it easier for people to control their funds. 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. Ultimately, Viswanathan believes that AI agents will operate finance in the same way that computers operate the internet, with humans using the interface to interact with the system.