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Bitwise’s Hunter Horsley describes AI as an ‘inevitable force’ in the cryptocurrency sector, whereas Haun’s Monica advises prudence.
As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, certain crypto leaders are optimistic that it may serve as the catalyst that finally drives blockchain infrastructure into mainstream adoption. However, some remain skeptical about the simplicity of this transition.
What to know:
- As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, certain crypto leaders are optimistic that it may serve as the catalyst that finally drives blockchain infrastructure into mainstream adoption. However, some remain skeptical about the simplicity of this transition.
- In a recent panel discussion at NEARCON 2026, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley described AI as “an unstoppable freight train,” asserting that its development speed is unprecedented in the crypto sector.
- Diogo Monica, general partner at Haun Ventures and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, challenged the notion that agentic commerce necessitates entirely new infrastructure.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – As artificial intelligence advances rapidly, certain crypto leaders are optimistic that it may serve as the catalyst that finally drives blockchain infrastructure into mainstream adoption. However, some remain skeptical about the simplicity of this transition.
In a recent panel discussion at NEARCON 2026, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley described AI as “an unstoppable freight train,” asserting that its development speed is unprecedented in the crypto sector. “AI is accomplishing a quarter’s worth of roadmap every two weeks right now,” he stated, implying that forecasts based on past crypto adoption trends might already be obsolete. “You have to discard the last six years of data and start fresh from the last six months.”
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For Horsley, this suggests that public blockchains could disproportionately gain from the rise of AI. “If there’s one space that will be an unmitigated benefactor of the adoption proliferation of AI, it will be public blockchains and crypto assets,” he remarked.
As autonomous agents start to operate on users’ behalf, he proposed that crypto-native tools could provide significant benefits. “Agents, obviously, you’re not going to want to authorize OpenClaw with your credit card… You’re gonna want to fund them with stablecoins. They’re gonna want to transact confidentially,” Horsley noted, highlighting stablecoins and onchain infrastructure as potential safeguards for machine-driven transactions.
Diogo Monica, general partner at Haun Ventures and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, challenged the notion that agentic commerce necessitates entirely new infrastructure.
“There is a chance that the agent payments commerce looks exactly like the current payment commerce for the foreseeable future,” Monica stated. “You are telling me that a superhuman intelligence cannot use the current payment rails, the current credit cards, the current instant settlement, to pay for things and to figure it out on their own.”
“You can’t tell me that AGI is coming and agents are going to be super smart… and tell me that they’re not going to be smart enough to figure out different systems,” he added.
Nonetheless, Monica recognized a deeper synergy between the technologies. “AI creates digital abundance and crypto represents digital scarcity. These are actually complementary technologies,” he observed, suggesting that crypto’s privacy and verification features could aid in addressing some of the challenges posed by AI.
The question of whether blockchains will become the primary infrastructure for autonomous commerce is still unresolved. However, as AI progresses, the discussion regarding crypto’s position in that future is evidently gaining momentum.
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