Why AI Agents Could Be the Next Big Thing in DeFi

AI is rapidly penetrating the Web3 ecosystem, transforming from a novelty to a foundational LAYER in crypto. Over the past 18 months, AI-driven applications have gained traction—LLMs summarize governance proposals, autonomous agents rebalance portfolios, and bots execute on-chain strategies in real time. Investor interest is surging: AI-agent projects raised $1.39 billion by mid-2025, already eclipsing 2024's funding pace.

The synergy between AI and blockchain is becoming undeniable. Chris Dixon of a16z crypto argues that blockchains provide the ownership, credible commitments, and identity primitives that AI systems lack—critical for open markets in compute, data, and content. "AI needs blockchain-enabled computing," he asserts. NVIDIA's Jensen Huang takes it further, framing AI as the catalyst for a new industrial revolution, with Ripple effects in financial automation and user interfaces.

The endgame is clear but complex: intent-driven interfaces where users declare objectives, and autonomous agents orchestrate the stack—data sourcing, liquidity aggregation, risk assessment, and settlement. The shift from apps to agents is underway, abstracting away the backend and redefining how value moves in DeFi.