Written by: Blockchain Knight
For AI Agents to truly become "widely deployable autonomous software," the two most critical capabilities are: composability + verifiability.
These are precisely what traditional Web2 cannot provide, but cryptocurrency systems inherently possess.
1. AI needs composability, and composability must be built on verifiability
The future of AI Agents is not a single model, but rather: automatically calling other services; combining other Agents; automatically writing code; automatically testing; automatically executing decisions (including actions involving funds). This is called agent composability.
The problem arises: if one Agent calls another Agent, but you cannot verify whether the other party actually executed as expected, the entire automation ecosystem cannot form a closed loop.
Web2 infrastructure (API + SaaS) cannot provide this strong verifiability because: APIs are black boxes; data can be tampered with; execution results cannot be proven; permissions rely on centralized audits; funds cannot be settled automatically.
In other words: a Web2 Agent cannot fully trust another Web2 Agent. Therefore, automation stops at the "demo level."
2. Cryptocurrency provides the "verifiable base layer" that AI lacks
Crypto provides the underlying three major capabilities needed for AI's future ecosystem:
1 Verifiable execution
Smart contracts are transparent and provable. ZK proofs enable even complex off-chain execution to be verified. AI can confirm that "the other party indeed did what I requested."
2 Verifiable identity
Decentralized identity DID/Key, and the Agent code itself can be signed.
This solves: who did it, whether it is trustworthy, and whether it has been tampered with.
3 Verifiable value transfer
Smart contracts support: automatic deductions, automatic payments, profit-sharing for multi-party collaboration, collateral and penalties, and escrow mechanisms.
This enables AI to directly manage and allocate funds without relying on institutions. This is something Web2 cannot achieve.
3. AI programming requires "self-testability," and involving funds requires "automatic verifiability" even more
Anthropic's recent acquisition of Bun is a signal:
AI is evolving from "automatically writing code" to a complete cycle of "automatically write → automatically test → automatically run → automatically fix."
Once AI automatically runs code and that code directly impacts the real world—such as executing trades, managing budgets, paying API fees, and participating in economic activities—it must have cryptocurrency's verifiable fund security system.
Otherwise, AI is just a toy and cannot engage in the real economy.
Crypto enables AI to:
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Automatically penalize "execution errors";
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Automatically reward "good contributions";
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Automatically settle accounts during multi-Agent collaboration;
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Automatically settle without requiring human trust.
This is a necessity for the future AI Agent economy.
4. Summarized in one sentence
AI automates software; Crypto makes automation trustworthy. Without the verifiability provided by cryptocurrency, AI Agents cannot operate at scale in the real economy.
