Crypto needs users.
Shocking, I know. For years, the industry’s been shouting about usability. And for years, it’s floundered. We’ve got complex wallets, confusing keys, and a general air of “don’t touch it unless you’re a.) a mathlete or b.) have a death wish.” It’s enough to make anyone retreat back to their FDIC-insured savings account.
But here’s the thing. Chappy Asel, a former Apple engineer and founder of AI nonprofit The AI Collective, thinks he’s found the missing link. And it’s not another sleek wallet app. It’s AI agents. Autonomous software. You know, the things that will soon be managing your finances, scheduling your meetings, and probably ordering your groceries. These agents, Asel posits, don’t care about user interfaces. They think in code. They transact in data. They’re basically predisposed to liking crypto.
Agentic Payments: The Unseen Revolution
Asel isn’t talking about AI assistants asking for your Bitcoin. He’s talking about machines interacting with other machines. Think micro-transactions, happening at lightning speed, with no human hands involved. Programmable payments. Stablecoins and smart contracts are the perfect foundation for this. They’re already always-on, and they can execute based on predefined rules. This is the kind of infrastructure that truly autonomous agents need to function and, crucially, to transact with each other economically.
“When agents make the majority of financial decisions, economic decisions, how do they transact with each other?” Asel said during the panel. “You want them to be highly systematic, mechanistic. You want very small, micro transactions. You want very low latency.”
It sounds sci-fi, sure. But Asel, fresh off stints with Apple’s Vision Pro and early AI efforts, is grounding this in practical realities. The AI world is hungry for low-latency, programmable payment rails. Crypto, with its inherent architecture, is perfectly positioned to provide them. Forget the chatbots; this is the real play.
The Infrastructure Play: Beyond the Agent
Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Agentic payments are still largely theoretical. Most companies are still glued to their centralized APIs and clunky, old-school payment systems. The actual commercial traction for agentic payments? Pretty much nonexistent. The narrative is outstripping the reality. And that’s okay. Because Asel has another angle.
Even before agentic payments become a daily occurrence, there’s a massive overlap between crypto and AI on a foundational level. Compute. Data centers. Energy. These are the engines driving AI development right now. And guess who’s already building massive infrastructure for energy-intensive computing? That’s right. Bitcoin miners. Many are already pivoting, seeing the AI workload as a lucrative new market. It’s a shrewd move. Repurposing hardware built for hash-slinging to power the next generation of AI. It’s pragmatic. It’s necessary.
Why This Matters For Crypto’s Survival
Crypto’s perennial problem has been its inability to attract and retain a broad user base. Humans are, frankly, a messy and inconsistent lot. We forget passwords, we get scared by volatility, we need constant hand-holding. AI agents, on the other hand, are logical, predictable, and built for scale. If they become significant economic actors, and they need efficient, programmable ways to transact, crypto suddenly has a built-in, highly compatible user base.
It’s a bit like finding your perfect audience after years of shouting into the void. The agents don’t need tutorials. They don’t flinch at gas fees (well, they might, but they can be programmed to optimize). They are the ultimate native users crypto has been searching for. This isn’t just about a new application; it’s about crypto finally finding its natural habitat, not in human hands, but in the silicon brains of autonomous machines.
Is This the Path to Mass Adoption?
It’s a compelling argument. The idea that the very entities most capable of understanding and utilizing decentralized, programmable finance are not humans, but increasingly sophisticated AI agents, is a fascinating prospect. It sidesteps the entire UX nightmare that has plagued crypto since its inception. Agents don’t need to understand blockchain; they just need to use its capabilities. This could be the Trojan horse that finally gets crypto’s infrastructure into the mainstream, even if the initial beneficiaries are silicon, not flesh and blood.
The reality is, AI is on an exponential curve. Its demands for low-latency, high-throughput financial rails will only grow. Crypto, built on these very principles, is uniquely positioned. It’s a marriage of convenience, certainly, but one that might just save crypto from its own user-friendliness deficit. The question isn’t whether crypto can serve AI, but whether it can scale to meet the demands of a future where machines are the dominant economic actors.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are agentic payments?
Agentic payments are financial transactions made directly between autonomous AI agents, without direct human intervention. They aim for high speed, low latency, and programmability, often involving micro-transactions.
Will AI agents replace human crypto users?
It’s unlikely to be a complete replacement. However, AI agents are expected to become significant users of crypto infrastructure, potentially dwarfing human transaction volumes due to their programmatic nature and need for efficient, machine-to-machine commerce.
How is crypto infrastructure being used for AI?
Parts of the crypto industry, particularly bitcoin miners, are repurposing their data centers and energy infrastructure to support AI workloads. This includes providing computing power, storage, and energy for AI model training and operation.
