Crypto’s strongest narrative today is that it can become the financial system for AI agents, with stablecoins as the core payment rail. If that narrative fades because real-world adoption and results remain limited—as crypto narratives often do—then the sector risks reverting to little more than boring fintech 2.0: a space dominated by institutional operators and regulators in suits rather than a frontier of outsized asymmetric upside. At that point, it would be fair to argue that the generational opportunity is over in the crypto space Circle 4Q25 earnings "What’s been interesting to see is that there’s been this direct and immediate pickup, where AI agents are realizing... that agent-to-agent transactions need a reliable, low cost, trusted medium of exchange. Virtually all of the AI payments infrastructure that we’re seeing, the agent type activity, is happening with blockchains, it’s happening with USDC" Coinbase 4Q25 earnings "We're even seeing these AI agents adopt stablecoins for payment, and I believe that stablecoins will be the default payment method for AI agents"