Alchemy CEO Claims Crypto Was Designed for AI, Not Humans

The existing financial system was not designed with machines in mind, but rather around the limitations of human life, including geographical constraints, sleep patterns, and physical presence. However, with AI agents increasingly participating 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 crypto was built for AI agents, not humans,' Viswanathan stated. The disparity is evident everywhere: banks have limited operating hours because humans do, payments are tied to countries because people live in them, and credit cards assume physical identity and presence. AI agents, on the other hand, operate differently. They do not require sleep, have no physical presence, and do not use banks or credit cards. Moreover, they are increasingly capable of conducting transactions independently. 'All transactions for agents are online and inherently global,' Viswanathan explained in an interview with CoinDesk. 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. These tools enable companies to create and scale on-chain products without having to manage the complexity of blockchain systems themselves. Traditional finance is built on the assumption of friction, with cross-border payments involving currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees. While this may be 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, direct control over funds via code, and systems that do not rely on physical infrastructure or identity. Crypto offers exactly that: a global, always-on financial layer where value can flow as easily as data. 'Crypto is the global infrastructure for money that agents need,' Viswanathan said. The complexity that has long made crypto difficult for humans to use, 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 explained. 'That's also the language of crypto.' For years, crypto has attempted to become more user-friendly for humans, but its underlying architecture was never designed with humans in mind. 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. Just as email is more powerful than the postal system because it is designed for computers, crypto is more suited for machines. Looking ahead, Viswanathan believes that AI agents will be built 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 can't do the same with a bank account,' Viswanathan said. The result would be a financial system that is more global, more programmable, and more 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.