InterviewAI agents will bring crypto to masses, says Animoca's Yat Siu
Yat Siu, executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands / Courtesy of Yat Siu
HONG KONG — Technology optimists predict that, sooner or later, people will rely on multiple artificial intelligence (AI) agents to manage their schedules, book restaurants, purchase essential items or even invest on their behalf.
When that day comes, these agents will conduct users’ financial transactions on the blockchain, and most people may not even realize they are using crypto technology, according to Yat Siu, executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands.
“I don’t think the path to crypto is going to be trading. It’s going to be much more about using it in everyday life,” Siu told The Korea Times in a recent interview on the sidelines of Consensus Hong Kong, a crypto networking event. “The fact that crypto is in the background is a bonus — it makes things bigger, faster, better, cheaper and more efficient. But ultimately, people won’t care.”
Siu began his career in the technology industry in 1990 and is now a veteran entrepreneur and investor based in Hong Kong. An early advocate of blockchain, he co-founded Animoca Brands in 2014. The company now operates a range of Web3-focused services and products and has invested in more than 600 Web3 companies. He also serves on the Hong Kong government’s task force promoting Web3 development.
Siu noted that, under the current Web3 landscape, humans are effectively undergoing a peer-to-peer “proof of concept” to validate trading systems. However, he argued that once AI agents enter the picture, a transaction layer that AI can read and verify — distinguishing legitimate transactions from invalid ones — will be essential.
In his view, blockchain is the natural foundation for that layer. Without it, AI agents would need multiple permissions across centralized platforms such as Microsoft, Apple or Facebook.
“Are you willing to trade or transact thousands of dollars on a platform that can shut you off at any time?” Siu asked.
Siu said crypto’s “aha” moment — much like when ChatGPT demonstrated AI’s potential to the general public — will arrive when people use it without realizing it. He cited Polymarket, the world’s largest prediction market, as an early example.
“How many people know that Polymarket runs on a blockchain?” Siu said. “Without blockchain, it wouldn’t exist. The infrastructure costs of building a financial system that can securely handle money, process transactions safely, reliably, at scale and at low cost, would be enormous.”
With that in mind, Siu said Korea should focus more on building practical utilities around blockchain and crypto.
“I don’t think we’ve seen many attempts at building truly useful applications in Korea,” he said.
He added that he finds it surprising that Korea, despite its crypto-friendly environment and high level of digital literacy, has yet to develop a flagship Layer 1 blockchain. Layer 1 refers to the base protocol of a blockchain network that operates independently and processes and finalizes transactions.
Without stronger business development, he argued, Koreans may remain focused on holding and trading digital tokens for speculation, while most growth continues to occur on centralized exchanges. That, in turn, reinforces regulators’ concerns about volatility and speculative excess, creating a cycle of tighter oversight.
“When Kakao tried to do it, they didn’t go all in,” he said. “Klaytn was treated like a subsection inside the app. Only people already interested in blockchain would use it. Look at the biggest crypto companies in the world today — they are crypto-first. It’s not JP Morgan’s crypto arm.”