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David Duong, head of research at Coinbase, believes AI-powered agents could fundamentally reshape decentralized finance (DeFi), though investors still struggle to understand their full potential.
“What you described is why Virtuals has been such a success on Base, for example,” Duong said in a discussion on Roundtable with host Rob Nelson. “They’ve been able to try to capture some of the trends that we’ve been seeing on the AI agent space because I think it’s still not fully well understood by a lot of investors.”
AI agents are autonomous software programs that use artificial intelligence to analyze data, make decisions, and execute tasks without human intervention. In crypto and DeFi, AI agents can manage trades, optimize investments, and interact with smart contracts.
Notably, the AI agent’s market cap stands at $9.92 billion today, reflecting a 1.6% change in the past 24 hours.
Duong noted that many still confuse AI agents with simple bots, underestimating their level of autonomy and potential impact.
“For example, someone asked me the other day how these are different from bots. Are they the same thing?” he said. “And you have to explain the level of autonomy that these AI agents have and what they could actually represent for this market.”
According to Duong, DeFi could undergo a change depending on how AI agents integrate into financial decision-making.
“I think, for now, it’s easier to play from the primary market space rather than the liquid space,” he said. “Trying to play a liquid token associated with AI agents… some of the activity is a bit superfluous to the token itself. That’s what we’re struggling with — we’re trying to figure out how to best monetize this side of things. But this is no doubt going to be a major theme in 2025.”
Retail excited about AI agents — David Gokhstein
David Gokhstein, founder of Gokhstein Media, said the retail market is already excited about AI-powered crypto, even if the tech remains difficult to fully grasp.
“I mean, the crowd’s taking to it, the retail crowd,” Gokhstein said. “They like the concept. I’m still honestly diving deep and trying to learn a little bit more about it, so I don’t really have much on that. But I just see the crowd. They’re excited about AI.”
Gokhstein also highlighted the growing intersection of AI and crypto regulation, pointing to the newly appointed “crypto czar” leading AI and blockchain policy efforts.
“Obviously, AI is going to be a big part of the conversation when it comes to crypto,” he added. “The new crypto czar is going to be heading and leading the AI and Crypto Council, so we’ll see. I’m excited for any new tech that’s built inside of this industry — as long as it’s not just vaporware being sold to the general public.”