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

The existing financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around human constraints such as geographical location, sleep patterns, paperwork, 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. 'One could argue that cryptocurrency was built for AI agents, not humans,' Viswanathan said. The discrepancy is evident everywhere: banks have limited operating hours due to human needs, payments are tied to countries because people live in them, and credit cards require physical identity and presence. In contrast, AI agents operate differently: they don't sleep, don't have a physical location, and don't use banks or credit cards. Moreover, they are increasingly involved in transactions, not just assisting with tasks. 'All transactions for agents are online and inherently global,' Viswanathan told CoinDesk in an interview. This is where cryptocurrency starts to appear less like an alternative financial system and more like the native infrastructure for a new type of economic actor. 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 power various products, from financial apps to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and games. Traditional finance is built on the assumption of friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees. However, for AI agents, this is not only inconvenient but also unusable. Agents require seamless, programmable, and direct control over money via code, without relying on physical infrastructure or identity. 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 of cryptocurrency, including seed phrases, private keys, and interacting directly with code, is actually a strength when it comes to 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 tried to become more human-friendly, but its underlying architecture was never designed for humans. Viswanathan compared the shift from crypto tools being built for humans to 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's designed for computers, 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, making it easier for people to control their funds. 'You can write code to manage a cryptocurrency wallet, but you can't do the same with a bank account,' Viswanathan said. The result will be a financial system that is more global, programmable, and autonomous. Viswanathan envisions a layered future, with traditional finance and cryptocurrency at the base, an agent layer on top, and a human interface above that. 'Just like computers operate the internet and humans use it, agents will operate finance,' he said.