The design of today’s financial system caters to human limitations—geographical boundaries, sleep cycles, paperwork, and the need for physical presence. However, as AI agents emerge as economic entities, this human-centric model appears increasingly restrictive, noted Nikil Viswanathan, co-founder of Alchemy, a cryptocurrency infrastructure firm.
“Crypto seems tailored more for AI agents than humans,” said CEO Viswanathan.
The incongruities are evident. Banks adhere to human schedules; payments correlate with national borders; credit cards assume physical identity and presence, he explained.
AI agents function differently: they do not require sleep or residency, nor do they visit banks or use cards. Their role is evolving from mere assistance to actual transactions.
“Agent transactions are entirely online and global,” Viswanathan, set to speak at Consensus Miami next month, told CoinDesk in an interview.
Crypto thus transforms from an alternative financial system into the foundational infrastructure for a novel economic actor, he added.
Alchemy provides developers with essential tools and services for constructing blockchain applications. Its offerings include APIs, node infrastructure, and data services supporting everything from finance apps to NFTs and games, allowing companies to develop and scale on-chain products without delving into complex blockchain systems.
Traditional financial operations assume friction: international payments involve currency exchanges, intermediaries, delays, and fees—standard for humans but impractical for AI agents. Agents require seamless cross-border transactions at any time, often in small increments, with programmability, direct money control via code, and systems independent of physical infrastructure or identity.
Crypto delivers this: a global, always-on financial layer where value flows as effortlessly as data, he stated.
“Crypto is the necessary global infrastructure for agents,” Viswanathan remarked.
What complicates crypto for humans—seed phrases, private keys, direct code interaction—empowers machines. Unlike humans, agents operate in code natively.
“Agents process information in zeros and ones, their native language. It’s also the language of crypto,” he said.
Though crypto has endeavored to become more human-friendly, its underlying architecture was never truly intended for human use.
Viswanathan likened the transition from building crypto tools primarily for humans to AI agents utilizing them with a past shift from postal systems to the internet. Previously, global communication required writing letters and mailing them—a process now vastly outpaced by email’s efficiency due to its computer-centric design.
“Email surpasses the postal system in power because it is built for computers,” Viswanathan noted. “Crypto parallels this evolution.”
He predicts that AI agents will soon manage crypto infrastructure, automating complexities, overseeing wallets, executing transactions, and optimizing capital flows in real time, thereby simplifying personal fund management.
“You can code to manage a crypto wallet—a feat impossible with bank accounts,” Viswanathan explained.
The future financial system promises enhanced global reach, programmability, and autonomy. Viswanathan envisions traditional finance and crypto as foundational layers, topped by an agent layer and a human interface above.
“Just as computers operate the internet while humans use it, agents will manage finance,” he concluded.