Crypto Designed for AI, Not Humans, According to Alchemy CEO

The existing financial system was not designed with machines in mind. Instead, it was built around human limitations such as geographical location, sleep patterns, paperwork, 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 the crypto firm Alchemy. "You can argue that crypto was built for AI agents, not humans," Viswanathan said. The disparity is evident everywhere. Banks have limited hours due to human constraints. Payments are tied to countries because people live in them, and credit cards require physical identity and presence. AI agents, on the other hand, operate differently. They do not sleep, have no physical location, do not visit banks, and do not carry 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 crypto begins to look like 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 services enable companies to build and scale on-chain products without having to manage the complexity of blockchain systems themselves. Traditional finance is based on friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees. While this is normal for humans, it is impractical for AI agents. Agents require seamless, borderless transactions at any time, often in small increments, as well as programmability and direct control over money via code. They also need systems that do not rely on physical infrastructure or identity. Crypto offers exactly that: a global, always-on financial layer where value can be transferred as easily as data. "Crypto is the global infrastructure for money that agents need," Viswanathan said. The complexity of crypto, 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. "Agents read in zeros and ones, which is their native language," Viswanathan said. "This is also the language of crypto." For years, crypto has tried to become more user-friendly for humans, but its underlying architecture was never designed for humans in the first place. 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. 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. "Crypto is similar." Looking ahead, Viswanathan believes that AI agents will operate on top of 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 crypto wallet, but you cannot do the same with a bank account," Viswanathan said. The result would be a financial system that is more global, programmable, and autonomous. Viswanathan envisions a layered future, with traditional finance and crypto at 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.