Back then it was a big deal to wire money online.
You opened the banking App, entered the amount, verified the name, entered a PIN or OTP and then you pressed Pay.You opened the banking App, entered the amount, verified the name, entered a PIN or OTP and then pressed Pay.
Now suppose you didn't do any of that!
You just communicate with an AI:
“Look around and see which one is the least expensive and pay it.”
The AI searches.
It compares.
It chooses.
And then, it might just pay the payment.
That sounds convenient.
This also raises an entirely fresh question:
Who is accountable for what the AI does if it can spend your money?
The AI isn't just becoming a chatbot
We've spent the last few years teaching AI to answer questions.
The next step is teaching it to take actions.
That difference is massive.
An AI that tells you which product to buy is an assistant.
An AI that actually purchases the product is an economic actor.
And crypto is particularly interesting here because blockchains already have something AI agents need: programmable payments and wallets.
Research and industry projects are increasingly exploring wallets that allow AI agents to hold assets, make payments and interact with blockchain applications under predefined permissions.
That means the future crypto user might not always be a person sitting behind a screen.
It could be software.
India is already thinking about this
This is not some long-term Sci-Fi concept.
NPCI is reportedly working on a scheme to recognize and approve AI agents transacting using UPI.
The first concept is for relatively low and regular payments; more complicated transactions may follow.
Consider the implications of that on the long run.
Instead of:
You → App → Payment
If we were to begin to see:
AI agent acts on your behalf and processes the payment.
The middle man is the AI.
And that's where things get interesting.
Your wallet might be your rules.
Consider giving instructions to an AI agent such as:
“You can spend up to ₹2,000.”
When ordering: “Please show me the final price, I never order without seeing the final price.”
Subscriptions can be paid but do not attempt to transfer funds to an unknown address.
Ask me first, if the transaction is above ₹10,000”.
One of the key concepts of agentic wallets is that the AI shouldn't be given unlimited access to your funds.
Rather, the possibilities for the agent can be limited by permissions, spending limits, approval thresholds and emergency controls.
That is, your wallet might be more of a rules-driven financial operating system than a bank account that you manage yourself.
But here's the scary part
What do you do if the AI gets it wrong?
What if it misunderstands your instructions?
Who would be responsible if someone tampered with the AI?
So what if an agent gets "compromised"?
And most importantly:
Who takes responsibility?
These are actual questions that may appear in the exam.
Financial institutions are already talking about ways to detect, verify and manage AI agents – such as setting limits on transactions, consent, audit trails, and the revoking of an agent's permission.
In other words, the money-making version of:
“Find out where — or what — your money is going.
Crypto may be the payment layer for the AI economy
This trend isn't just important because of that.
Unlike humans, AI agents are not sleepers.
They can operate 24/7.
They may be able to automatically pay for APIs, computing resources, data, software services and other digital services.
This is appealing for crypto and stablecoins because of the ability to integrate programmable, machine-to-machine payments.
There are already platforms taking the plunge into marketplaces where AI agents can engage with other services and transact on their own.
That poses an interesting question:
Trades between AI agents.Pays other AI agents with AI agents.
Your AI engages another AI.
That's the AI that's using another service.
The services get paid automatically.
Humans only get involved when something important needs to be approved.
We're shifting from an internet that's for people to an internet that's for software.
The biggest crypto story might not be another coin
I'm most interested in this part.
Typical crypto conversation topics:
Bitcoin.
Ethereum.
Memecoins.
Price targets.
Bull markets.
Bear markets.
However, there is something far greater going on beneath all that.
The structure of the infrastructure is evolving.
Traditional financial institutions are also adapting to the move towards tokenized assets. For instance, a few years ago, Nasdaq made a $100 million investment in Kraken's parent company, as part of its efforts to build infrastructure for tokenized equities.
Meanwhile, India is considering tokenized securities as well as smart-contract infrastructure and CBDC.
Put those trends together and you get an interesting picture:
Tokenized assets + AI agents + programmable payments + digital identity.
That's potentially a larger crypto bubble than another one.
The question isn't “Will AI replace crypto users?”
I think the better question is:
Will humans still be the ones making every transaction?
Maybe not.
Your future wallet might contain money you rarely touch manually.
Your AI might negotiate prices.
Pay bills.
Subscribe to services.
Move money between accounts.
Purchase digital goods.
And potentially interact with financial markets.
But there's one thing I don't think should disappear:
Human control.
Because giving software the ability to act is useful.
Giving software unlimited authority is something completely different.
The future of crypto may therefore be less about humans holding coins and more about humans deciding what autonomous software is allowed to do with digital money.
And honestly…
that's a much more interesting crypto story than watching another chart move 5%.
What do you think? Would you trust an AI to make small payments for you if you could set strict spending limits?
If yes, would you ever let it handle something more serious?
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