Most people think the next cycle is about faster chains or smarter traders. I don’t buy that. I think it’s about AI agents. Not chatbots. Not tools sitting in a dashboard. Actual software that can hold money and make decisions. ➟ So what are AI agents, really Think of them as programs with wallets. You give them a goal, not step-by-step instructions. Something like “manage this capital safely” or “optimize yield”. From there, they: • trade • rebalance • move funds • pay fees • settle transactions All on their own. No sleep. No emotions. No panic trades. Crypto didn’t create AI agents… it just gave them money rails. ➟ Why this starts to matter in 2026 Markets don’t close. People do. DeFi keeps getting more complex. RWAs need automation to work at scale. Stablecoins make machine-to-machine payments possible. Institutions don’t want people clicking buttons. They want systems that just run. That’s where agents fit. ➟ Where AI agents show up in crypto • Managing DeFi strategies automatically • Handling treasury and yield for RWAs • Making and receiving stablecoin payments • Executing prediction market strategies • Running on decentralized compute networks Crypto becomes the financial layer. Agents become the operators. ➟ The building blocks behind agents • Intent-based execution, tell them the goal, not the steps • Swarms, multiple agents coordinating together • Reputation systems, trust without identity • Verifiable execution, proving actions weren’t manipulated • Micropayments, machines paying machines This isn’t about assistants. It’s infrastructure. ➟ AI agent projects worth watching • @Fetch_ai / ASI Autonomous agents coordinating data, models, and execution. • @bittensor_ A network where AI models compete and earn, basically brains for agents. • @virtuals_io Making it easier for anyone to deploy agents with wallets. • @TheoriqAI Agent swarms built for complex DeFi execution. • @rendernetwork Decentralized GPUs powering AI inference at scale. ➟ The part people underestimate Once agents consistently: • generate real yield • reduce execution mistakes • run nonstop They stop feeling experimental. They just become normal. Crypto doesn’t win by being louder. It wins by letting machines participate in the economy. And once machines can act on their own… things start to change quietly.