DeFi infrastructure positioned to power AI agents at scale as consumer adoption stalled, per analyst commentary.
AI & Agents ·
Analysts argue that decentralized finance infrastructure, despite failing to achieve mainstream consumer adoption, may find new purpose serving autonomous AI agents operating at scale. The shift reflects recognition that while retail DeFi use cases have stalled, the underlying systems for managing assets, executing transactions, and maintaining on-chain identities could support billions of AI economic participants. Leviathan's analysis outlines how AI agents are transitioning from advisory tools into independent actors capable of holding wallets, signing transactions, and interacting with smart contracts with minimal human oversight.
Recent infrastructure developments illustrate this repurposing. Visa has introduced payment mechanisms specifically for AI agents, while Biconomy has proposed technical standards enabling agents to execute multi-step trades atomically. Anthropic and Coinbase have each launched products aimed at scaling agent deployment, though Coinbase's usage data reveals ongoing challenges—transaction volumes have dropped sharply from earlier peaks. Autonomous travel bookings and commerce transactions demonstrate that agents are already operating independently on blockchain rails.
What remains unclear is whether DeFi infrastructure designed for human users will prove adequate for agent-scale operations, and how regulatory and security frameworks will evolve as agents accumulate autonomous economic authority.