Here’s a thought experiment: if an AI agent books your flights, manages your subscriptions, and negotiates deals on your behalf, who actually owns the data, the relationships, and the economic value it creates? Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu thinks the answer to that question will define the next era of technology. And he’s betting blockchain is the answer.
Speaking at WebX 2026 in Tokyo on July 13, Siu laid out a vision where ownership infrastructure becomes the critical layer underneath autonomous AI systems. The event, organized by CoinPost at The Prince Park Tower Tokyo, drew 13,641 participants from over 90 countries.
From chatbots to economic actors
AI is shifting from a tool that responds to prompts into something that acts independently, pursuing goals on behalf of users. These so-called agentic AI systems don’t just answer your questions. They make decisions, execute transactions, and interact with other agents and services autonomously.
In a fireside chat themed around “ownership is the defining question of the agentic AI era,” Siu argued that these agents will need their own crypto wallets and ownership frameworks. Without them, the value they generate flows back to whichever centralized platform hosts them, not to the users they serve.
Siu estimates that 50 to 100 billion AI agents could emerge in the near future. For context, there are roughly 8 billion humans on Earth.
Animoca is already testing the thesis internally
Siu disclosed that the company currently operates hundreds of AI agents internally through a division called Animoca Minds.
Siu also participated in a panel titled “AI, IP, and the Future of Policy,” connecting the ownership discussion to intellectual property and regulatory considerations.