Crypto wallets for AI agents are creating a new legal frontier, says Electric Capital
TL;DR
Crypto wallets for AI agents are creating a new legal frontier as autonomous software can now hold assets and transact independently. While technical capabilities are advancing, liability and enforcement remain unresolved questions.
Key Takeaways
- •AI agents with crypto wallets can autonomously hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens, and hire other agents
- •The technical infrastructure for AI-driven financial systems is developing faster than legal frameworks
- •Key legal questions center on liability when autonomous software acts independently with its own wallet
- •Crypto enables programmable money and global access that traditional finance cannot match for non-human entities
- •This development represents a potentially historic shift comparable to the creation of limited liability corporations
What to know:
- Crypto isn’t just building faster payments rails. It may be building the financial system for non-humans.
- As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not.
- Crypto isn’t just building faster payments rails. It may be building the financial system for non-humans.
- As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Crypto isn’t just building faster payments rails. It may be building the financial system for non-humans.
As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not.
At a recent panel at NEARCON 2026, Electric Capital’s Avichal Garg framed the moment as historically significant.
“What happens if there’s not a human behind it at all?” Garg asked. “It’s some piece of code that owns a wallet, executing code to make more money… How does liability work in that case? I actually don’t know.”
Crypto makes this possible in a way traditional finance cannot. Blockchains allow programmable money, instant settlement and global access. Pair that with AI agents capable of making decisions, and you get something new: software that can both think and transact.
Garg compared the shift to the creation of the limited liability corporation in the 19th century — a legal breakthrough that unlocked pooled capital and industrial-scale growth.
“The cost of participating in the economy has come down so far,” he said. “You’re talking about anybody in the world, with relatively little money, being able to create value.”
But enforcement remains unresolved.
“You can’t punish an AI,” Garg noted. “You can turn them off, but they don’t care.”
If autonomous agents begin trading, lending, hiring and scaling businesses onchain, lawmakers may face a foundational question: Who is liable when software with its own wallet acts independently?
Read more: Kraken’s co-CEO could trust AI with 100% of his crypto — Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi isn’t convinced
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