Alchemy CEO Claims Crypto is Better Suited for AI Agents than Humans

The existing financial system was created with human constraints in mind, such as geographical location, sleep patterns, and physical presence. However, with the emergence of AI agents as economic participants, this human-centric design is becoming a hindrance, according to Alchemy co-founder Nikil Viswanathan. 'It can be argued that crypto was designed for AI agents, not humans,' Viswanathan stated. The disparity is evident everywhere, from banks' operating hours to payments tied to countries and credit cards requiring physical identity and presence. AI agents, on the other hand, operate differently, as they don't sleep, don't have a physical location, and don't use traditional banking methods. Moreover, they are increasingly capable of transacting independently. 'All transactions for agents are online and inherently global,' Viswanathan explained. This is where crypto begins to resemble 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. Traditional finance is built on the assumption of friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, and fees. However, for AI agents, this is impractical. Agents require seamless, borderless transactions, often in small increments, as well as programmability and direct control over funds via code. 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 and private keys, is actually a strength when it comes to machines. Unlike humans, agents operate natively in code and can read zeros and ones. 'Agents' native language is zeros and ones, which is also the language of crypto,' Viswanathan noted. For years, crypto has attempted 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. While people once had to physically write and mail letters, modern communication is much faster. 'Email is far more powerful than the postal system because it's designed for computers,' Viswanathan said. 'Crypto 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 crypto 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 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.