Imagine your investments working round the clock and scan the global market for the best opportunity. Futuristic sound? That’s already true.
In traditional finance (Tradfi), the algorithm handles almost 70% of US stock trading. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) agents are stepping up. These are not just basic bots, but innovative systems that learn, adapt and make real-time decisions. Vaneck predicts that the number of AI agents will surge from 10,000 to over 1 million by the end of 2025.
AI agents analyze market trends and balance their portfolios, working behind the scenes managing liquidity across decentralized exchange platforms such as Saucerswap and Uniswap. They blur the line between TRADFI and distributed finance (DEFI), and it is expected that cross-chain transactions will jump 20% in 2025.
Autonomous finance is nothing new, but today’s AI agents work with increased autonomy and refinement. So, can we trust these agents to manage billions of digital assets? What protections exist when decisions are made from algorithms rather than humans? Who is responsible for the market operations carried out by the agents?
These concerns are valid. As AI agents take more responsibility, the concerns of transparency and market manipulation increase, especially as the convergence of crypto and Tradfi accelerates. For example, some blockchains allow front-running transactions and sandwich attacks that can leverage blockchain consensus in a process known as the Maximum Extractable Value (MEV). These trading strategies undermine fairness and market confidence. AI agents operating at machine speeds can surpass these risks.
Trust is important, and distributed ledger technology (DLT) provides solutions. DLT provides real-time transparency, immutability and distributed consensus to ensure that decisions are traceable and auditable. The Identity Management Institute reports that the integrated blockchain identity system has already reduced fraud by 40% and reduced identity theft by 50%. Applying these guardrails to AI-driven finance can counter operations and promote fairness. Furthermore, the use of DLT in fair orders is growing rapidly, ensuring that transactions are fair and unpredictably sequenced, addressing MEV concerns and promoting trust in distributed systems.
A blockchain-driven, trust-centric model can unlock the new paradigm “defai.” In this paradigm, autonomous agents can operate freely without sacrificing surveillance. Open source protocols like Elizaos with blockchain plugins already allow secure and compliant AI interactions between agents across Defi Ecosystems.
The story continues