\u201cArtificial intelligence is infinitely scalable intelligence, and if you think of blockchain, which is the underlying technology for crypto, as an infinitely scalable source of truth, then those two things work very well together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
AI agents are already widespread across crypto and are used to build Web3 applications, launch tokens, and interact with services and protocols autonomously, with some platforms exploring the use of AI agents<\/a> for trading.<\/p>\n AI agents need faster money<\/p>\n D\u2019Agostino told CNBC that traditional financial systems weren\u2019t designed for real-time, machine-to-machine transactions at scale, and asking AI agents to operate on \u201c100-year-old financial rails\u201d while scaling it for use won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re going to move to this world and have this wonderful advantage of these agents acting at infinitely fast speeds, they have to act on infinitely fast and scalable money rails. And that\u2019s what blockchain and crypto is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t try to stream a movie on a dial-up modem. You wouldn\u2019t ask these AI agents to transact with a financial system that\u2019s older than those modems.\u201dNo point in Bitcoin versus gold debate<\/p>\n D\u2019Agostino added that Bitcoin\u2019s (BTC) performance relative to gold has become a frequently<\/a> discussed topic as well, but in his view, the two shouldn\u2019t be compared as Bitcoin has characteristics gold doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Bitcoin is \u201cprogrammable. It\u2019s digital. It\u2019s infinitely scalable in terms of movement. Easy to move. You don\u2019t have to lug it across borders, and it produces a yield,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re one of the people who are genuinely concerned that global money supply grows like 7%, 8% a year, and that\u2019s excessive, if you believe that\u2019s excessive and that\u2019s causing inflation, then you need assets that will beat that.\u201d<\/p>\n D\u2019Agostino added that he is also bullish on Bitcoin because of the few trillion dollars in money markets, which were parked when interest rates in the US were 5% to try and beat inflation rates.<\/p>\n \u201cAs rates tick down, that unlocks those assets. Now, all of it\u2019s not flowing into assets like Bitcoin, but a portion will,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related: Crypto users cool with AI dabbling with their portfolios: Survey<\/a><\/p>\n The Federal Reserve slashed rates for the first time<\/a> this year on Sept. 17, with more possibly on the way, although JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon cast doubt on more rate cuts, and said last week he thinks the Fed<\/a> will have a hard time cutting the interest rate unless inflation drops.\u00a0<\/p>\n Institutions are not \u201clemmings running over a cliff\u201d<\/p>\n D\u2019Agostino also expressed doubts about an incoming institutional wave of crypto adoption, which has been predicted to be a key driver<\/a> of the market.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/01999e51-4e21-78c7-b14d-4126c873bc8f.png\" "\\"\\"\/")
Coinbase\u2019s John D\u2019Agostino believes AI agents require crypto to operate effectively in financial markets. Source: CNBC<\/a><\/p>\n