AI Agents Haven’t Taken Over DeFi (Yet)
AI agents don’t just need intelligence; they need DeFi-ready infrastructure and it's only a matter of time when most transactions are run by agents.
AI agents have been a hot topic in Web3 circles for some time now, sparking one of the most ambitious narratives in crypto: the dream of autonomous, intelligent entities managing capital, risk, and strategy across decentralised protocols. These systems, it was said, would not only outperform humans at execution, but also liberate users from the constant monitoring and micromanagement of their digital assets.
At the height of this excitement, bold predictions began shaping this narrative; “within 1 year, the majority of all DeFi TVL will be managed by AI Agents”.
But, as time passes, the buzz of this topic is giving way to reality, especially if the current most popular AI agents are X profiles with a token. That’s not the grand vision for these agents. With their infrastructure still in its nascent or development stage, the concept of DeFi-native agents will remain abstract for only so long. The AI economy now sits in a holding pattern—waiting for the build to catch up to the narrative.