Does AI need Blockchain? Exploring a new paradigm of Machine Finance

In recent years, AI technology has developed rapidly, from generating content to algorithmic trading, AI is gradually evolving from a mere tool to a participant with autonomous capabilities. Meanwhile, the Web3 field has also begun to explore the possibilities of combining AI and Blockchain. However, a more thought-provoking question is: Does AI itself need Blockchain?

When we view AI as a participant that is gradually breaking away from human control and possesses autonomous behavior capabilities, we find it difficult to establish itself within the existing financial system. This is not just an issue of efficiency, but a structural limitation of the entire system. The traditional financial system was not designed with machines in mind from the very beginning.

The foundation of the modern financial system is the account system, and the core of this system is identity authentication. Whether opening a bank account or using payment services, one needs to prove that they are a specific, identifiable, and legally accountable "natural person" or "legal person". However, AI is neither a natural person nor a legal person. It does not have nationality, identification, tax number, nor does it possess signing authority or legal capacity. This means that AI cannot open an account, hold assets, or make payments within the existing financial system. In short, AI is a "ghost without legal personality" under the current financial framework.

This is not a philosophical question, but rather the practical boundaries of the system. When AI needs to purchase server usage rights, call APIs, or participate in market transactions, it first requires a payment method. And any compliant payment method is tied to a "person" or "enterprise". As long as AI is not an auxiliary tool of a certain entity, but rather a relatively independent actor, it is destined to be excluded from this system.

In contrast, blockchain systems provide the possibility for "non-human users" to participate in economic activities. On the blockchain, as long as one can generate a private key and address, they can make payments, sign smart contracts, and participate in consensus mechanisms, regardless of whether they are human or machine. This means that blockchain is inherently suitable for non-human entities to engage in economic activities.

Some projects have begun to explore how AI can have an "economic identity" on the blockchain. These projects are testing how AI Agents can provide services to other Agents, how they can autonomously complete transactions and coordinate. In this model, AI no longer relies on human "feeding", but is able to autonomously acquire resources, provide services, generate revenue, and reinvest in itself, forming a closed loop.

Traditional financial systems struggle to adapt to this scenario because their infrastructure is designed around the assumption of "human behavior." Core processes such as payment, clearing, and risk control rely on human participation and regulation. Incorporating AI into this system requires "affiliating" with individuals or companies to operate, which is not only inefficient but also carries significant liability risks.

In the AI economic system, stablecoins may become important settlement tools. When AI Agents exchange services, what they need is a stable unit of value, rather than volatile cryptocurrency assets. Stablecoins like USDT and USDC provide the AI world with a "hard currency" that can circulate freely on-chain while maintaining value stability.

In the future, we may see AI systems existing in the form of DAOs or on-chain protocols. These "digital legal entities" or "AI legal entities" will have their own fund pools, governance mechanisms, and identity systems, able to independently serve users, receive payments, initiate lawsuits, and more. Their collaboration and competition will be based on smart contracts and mediated by cryptocurrencies, forming a new economic ecosystem.

However, this vision also faces numerous challenges. Issues such as the security of AI wallets, risk control of model misuse, verifiability of on-chain identities, legal status of cross-border AI entities, and ethical boundaries of algorithmic behavior urgently need to be addressed. More importantly, our existing legal and regulatory frameworks provide almost no pathways for "non-human actors." This requires new legal structures, social consensus, and technological governance measures to respond.

Despite the numerous challenges, some pioneering projects have already demonstrated possible paths—not by patching old systems to accommodate AI, but by building a more suitable "machine financial infrastructure." This infrastructure requires on-chain identity, encrypted accounts, stablecoin payments, smart contract collaboration, and decentralized credit mechanisms, which are precisely the core elements of Web3.

Cryptocurrency was initially designed to serve "account-less individuals"; now it may become a key tool for "identity-less machines" to participate in economic activities. If traditional finance is a pyramid built for human society, then blockchain and cryptocurrency may be laying the economic foundation for the machine world. AI does not necessarily need to possess human-like rights, but it must have an operable economic interface. And this is precisely the problem that blockchain excels at solving.