John D’Agostino from Coinbase made a pretty blunt comparison on CNBC Tuesday about why AI agents need cryptocurrency to function in financial markets. He said asking AI to work with traditional banking systems is like trying to stream Netflix on a dial-up modem from the 90s. It just doesn’t work.
His main point is that AI agents operate at incredibly fast speeds and need financial infrastructure that can keep up. Traditional banking rails were built over a hundred years ago for humans processing things during business hours, not machines making thousands of transactions per second around the clock.
D’Agostino argues that if AI agents are going to operate on people’s behalf, they need access to what he calls “true sources of information” on the blockchain. Otherwise things could go disastrously wrong. He sees blockchain as an infinitely scalable source of truth that pairs perfectly with AI’s infinitely scalable intelligence.
AI agents are already pretty common in crypto, autonomously launching tokens, building applications, and even trading. Some platforms are experimenting with letting AI handle trading strategies completely independently, which sounds both exciting and terrifying depending on your risk tolerance.
On the Bitcoin versus gold debate, D’Agostino doesn’t think they should even be compared. Bitcoin is programmable, digital, easy to move across borders, and generates yield. Gold sits in a vault. He’s particularly bullish on Bitcoin because trillions of dollars currently parked in money markets at 5% interest rates will need somewhere to go as rates drop.
Conclusion
AI needs crypto’s speed and transparency, not outdated banking rails. D’Agostino sees blockchain as AI’s ideal partner, fueling autonomous finance and making Bitcoin a superior, scalable asset over gold as global capital seeks new opportunities.
Also Read: White Label Crypto Service
