AI Money on Blockchain Rails
Sam@roszaksamuel
The idea
I believe AI agents will increasingly handle savings, investing and spending, and they'll need blockchain rails to do it since card networks and bank wires can't move money in real time at near-zero cost. So this holds three layers: the settlement chains agents transact on, the companies issuing and moving dollar-backed coins, and the exchanges and asset managers bringing stocks on-chain, with steadier names like BlackRock and Visa balancing the more volatile coins. It's built to hold for years across the full stack rather than bet on one winner, with some cash kept on the side.
What it owns
- These are the blockchains AI agents actually send money across, so they gain if agent payments grow. · EthereumMost dollar-backed coins and tokenized funds that AI agents touch live on this network or chains built on top of it, so it grows when stablecoin and tokenized asset activity increases., SolanaAgents paying in fractions of a cent tend to pick the cheapest and fastest chain available, and this one often fits that profile., ChainlinkTokenized stocks and funds need trustworthy prices fed onto blockchains, and it is the most common way that price data gets there., NEAR ProtocolIt pitches itself as the chain where AI agents transact with each other directly, betting on agent payment activity rather than just infrastructure potential., Artificial SuperintelligenceIt pays for a network where AI agents find each other and do work, rising if agents run real activity on open crypto networks rather than hype alone.27%
- Agents pay in dollar-backed coins, and these companies issue them or carry the payments. · Coinbase GlobalIt wrote the standard letting AI agents pay in dollar-backed coins, runs a major blockchain for those payments, and shares in stablecoin revenue as that ecosystem grows., Circle Internet GroupIt issues the dollar coin agents use for payments under the standard framework, so more agent spending means more coin in circulation and more interest income., VisaIt benefits if stablecoins plug into card payments, which payment networks are already doing, and it settles those transactions., PayPal HoldingsIt runs its own dollar coin inside wallets hundreds of millions of people use, creating a ready path for consumer AI agents to spend on-chain.26%
- When people's money moves onto blockchains, these are the companies it moves through. · Robinhood MarketsIt is putting stocks on blockchains for customers to trade, which is where an AI managing investments continuously would operate., Galaxy DigitalIt acts like a crypto bank by trading, lending and helping companies put shares on-chain, earning from the infrastructure that tokenization requires., BullishIt runs a crypto exchange built for large institutions, the kind that will handle trading volume when funds and agents move on-chain., BitGo HoldingsIt holds and secures crypto for institutions, and AI agents moving money on-chain need wallets kept safe by a trusted custodian.18%
- For agents to optimize whole portfolios on-chain, stocks and funds have to live there too, and these firms are putting them there. · BlackRockIt runs a tokenized money market fund and benefits if institutional funds continue moving onto blockchains., Intercontinental ExchangeIt owns the New York Stock Exchange and is working on trading tokenized stocks, positioning it to keep that business as regulators open the door., Figure Technology SolutionsIt makes and trades loans on a blockchain, showing how everyday finance can run on-chain in a way AI agents could plug into.17%
- Cash12%