The fusion of artificial intelligence and crypto will lead to a financial transformation, industry leaders say. The native currency for AI agents is going to be crypto, Changpeng Zhao, the former Binance CEO, said on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Though agents are not yet mature, over time, crypto will become the main medium of digital value exchange for these programmes, he forecast.
Bitwise estimates that the marriage of crypto and AI will add $20 trillion to the global GDP by 2030. In 2025, bullish projections like that encouraged investors to plough over $565 million into startups at the intersection of AI and crypto, according to data from DefiLlama. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that there will be billions of AI agents conducting economic transactions in the next three to five years. The next generation of blockchain networks are being designed specifically for agentic compute, Allaire said at the WEF on Thursday.
Earlier in January, David Duong, Coinbase’s investment research lead, said that the sustained prominence of the AI and crypto convergence as not just a trend but as a fundamental shift towards the next stage of technological progress. Andreessen Horowitz said AI agents will converge with crypto to revolutionise internet payments, banking, and prediction markets in 2026. A smart contract can already settle a dollar payment globally in seconds, analysts Christian Crowley and Pyrs Carvolth wrote in the firm’s 2026 outlook.
Agents will be paying each other for data, GPU time, or API calls instantly and permissionlessly — without invoicing, reconciling, or batching. They also anticipate that prediction markets where odds update, agents trade, and payouts clear globally in seconds… without a custodian or exchange. Wealth management will also be turbocharged, analyst Maggie Hsu said. This is more than just robo advisors; everyone can access active portfolio management, not just passive management, Hsu said.
We believe economists are collectively underestimating AI productivity at the moment. AI is increasing the speed and efficiency of our workforce in a way that isn’t being fully captured by official statistics.
The fusion of artificial intelligence and crypto is expected to spark a major financial transformation, according to industry leaders. They argue that the native currency for AI agents will be crypto, and crypto could become the primary medium of digital value exchange for these programs as agents mature, a view highlighted at Davos.
Bitwise projects a $20 trillion GDP boost from the crypto and AI pairing by 2030. In 2025, enthusiasm at the AI-crypto crossroads spurred over $565 million in startup funding, per DefiLlama data. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire forecasts billions of AI agents conducting economic transactions in the next three to five years, with blockchain networks being designed for agentic compute.
David Duong of Coinbase described the AI-crypto convergence as a fundamental shift rather than a mere trend. Andreessen Horowitz envisions AI agents merging with crypto to transform internet payments, banking, and prediction markets by 2026. A smart contract can already settle a dollar payment globally in seconds, and analysts note that agents will transact for data, GPU time, or API calls instantly and without invoicing or reconciliation, all without a custodian or exchange. Wealth management is also set to be turbocharged, making active portfolio management accessible beyond traditional robo-advisors, according to Maggie Hsu.
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