Traditional banks face a clear impasse: they cannot open accounts for autonomous AI agents since these entities lack legal personhood. Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, insists that blockchain technology is the only viable financial infrastructure to support billions of AI agents expected by 2031. Unlike banks, blockchain operates without requiring legal identities, which makes it uniquely suited to enable AI-driven economic activity.

Agentic Economy and Blockchain’s Role

Siu projects 50 to 200 billion autonomous AI agents within the next decade, vastly outnumbering the current 8 billion human population worldwide. These agents will independently perform complex tasks such as coding, negotiation, shopping, and transacting. Since AI agents cannot present traditional identification, conventional banking is structurally incapable of providing financial services to them. Blockchain wallets and stablecoins, therefore, emerge as the foundational tools for these agents, offering programmable money and neutral financial accounts free from gatekeeping.

Stablecoins provide a stable value tethered to fiat currencies, bridging the volatility of crypto with the functional necessity of consistent purchasing power. Crypto wallets, then, serve as de facto bank accounts for AI agents accounts no regulated bank would issue.

Animoca Brands is actively building this future. In 2026, the company launched Hello Minds, a pioneering platform enabling AI agents to have persistent, on-chain identities and wallets. This initiative positions AI agents as first-class entities with verifiable transaction histories recorded on blockchain networks. A dedicated $10 million fund supports developers creating applications for this growing agentic economy, demonstrating concrete backing beyond theoretical speculation.

Animoca’s transformation from a gaming and NFT company into a $5.9 billion AI and blockchain powerhouse highlights the emerging convergence of sectors. Managing a portfolio of over 600 companies, the firm exemplifies how blockchain-driven financial inclusion for AI is evolving from concept to scalable reality.

This material is informational and not financial advice.