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

The conventional financial system was established with human limitations in mind, such as geographical constraints, sleep patterns, and physical presence. However, as AI agents begin to participate in economic activities, this human-centric design is becoming a hindrance, according to Alchemy co-founder Nikil Viswanathan. 'One could argue that cryptocurrency was created for AI agents, not humans,' Viswanathan stated. The disparity is evident everywhere, with banks operating during specific hours due to human limitations, payments tied to countries, and credit cards requiring physical identification. In contrast, AI agents operate around the clock, have no physical presence, and do not rely on traditional banking systems or credit cards. Moreover, they are increasingly autonomous in their transactions. All transactions conducted by agents occur online and are inherently global, Viswanathan explained. This is where cryptocurrency starts to resemble the native infrastructure for a new type of economic entity, rather than an alternative financial system. As a crypto infrastructure company, Alchemy 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 built on the assumption of friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, and fees. While this is normal for humans, it is impractical for AI agents, which require seamless, borderless transactions at any time, often in small increments. They also need programmability and direct control over funds via code, as well as systems that do not rely 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 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, agents operate natively in code, with zeros and ones being their native language, which is also the language of cryptocurrency. For years, cryptocurrency has attempted to abstract itself into something more human-friendly, but its underlying architecture was never designed for humans in the first place. Viswanathan compared the shift from cryptocurrency tools being built primarily for humans to being used by AI agents to the earlier 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. Moving forward, AI agents will utilize cryptocurrency infrastructure, handling complexity automatically, managing wallets, executing transactions, and optimizing capital flows in real-time, allowing people to control their funds more easily. 'You can write code to manage a cryptocurrency wallet, but you cannot write code to manage a bank account in the same way,' 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 as the base, an agent layer operating on top, and a human interface above that. 'Just as computers operate the internet and humans use it, agents will operate finance,' he said.