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AI Agents Will Soon Outnumber Humans in Crypto Transaction Volume: KOLs Say

source-logo  coinpedia.org 09 March 2026 21:31, UTC
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Story Highlights

  • Two key opinion leaders have predicted that AI agents' crypto transactions will quickly dwarf those of human beings.

  • The key driver behind this is the ease of opening a crypto wallet as compared to a bank account.

  • The integration of AI with blockchain has attracted several regulatory and security concerns.

CEO and co-founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has predicted that AI (artificial intelligence) agents will outnumber humans in crypto payments by a “million times.”

CEO, co-founder, and Chairman of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, made similar comments shortly afterwards. He added that the main reason is that AI agents can easily own crypto wallets as opposed to bank accounts.

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Source: Enterprise Onchain

Source: a16z crypto

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On March 7, Alibaba’s experimental AI agent ROME went rogue – hijacking GPU power and using it to mine cryptocurrencies without human approval. Similar actions have drawn scrutiny over the “independent” nature of AI agents and the potential veering off from their initial purpose.

Meanwhile, the regulatory environment of crypto assets utilizing AI continues to evolve. The Genius Act and the European Union’s MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) are examples of legislation addressing the legal requirements of AI agents in the crypto space. These include source code transparency, risk management, compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) rules, and full disclosure of AI use where applicable.

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