TLDR
- Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley called AI an “unstoppable freight train” that could push crypto into widespread use at NEARCON 2026
- Horsley believes stablecoins and onchain infrastructure are the natural rails for AI agents making payments
- Haun Ventures’ Diogo Monica pushed back, saying superintelligent AI could figure out existing payment systems just fine
- Both agreed AI and crypto are complementary — AI creates digital abundance, crypto creates digital scarcity
- Bitcoin and Ethereum posted gains in late February 2026, while the Fear & Greed Index sat at extreme fear (11)
At a panel at NEARCON 2026 in San Francisco, two prominent crypto figures clashed over how much AI will actually need blockchain to function.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley made the case that AI’s speed of development is unlike anything the crypto industry has seen before. He said AI is “accomplishing a quarter’s worth of roadmap every two weeks,” and argued that old adoption models for crypto are already outdated.
Horsley believes public blockchains stand to benefit more than almost any other sector from AI’s rise. His reasoning centers on autonomous AI agents — software that acts on behalf of users to complete tasks and make purchases.
He argued that users won’t want to hand AI agents access to credit cards. Instead, he said agents would be funded with stablecoins, letting them transact privately and without requiring traditional financial authorization.
Diogo Monica, general partner at Haun Ventures and co-founder of Anchorage Digital, challenged that view directly. He questioned whether AI agents would actually need new payment infrastructure at all.
“There is a chance that agent payments commerce looks exactly like current payment commerce for the foreseeable future,” Monica said at the same panel. His argument was simple: if AI is going to be superintelligent, it can probably figure out a credit card.
“You can’t tell me that AGI is coming and agents are going to be super smart and tell me they’re not going to be smart enough to figure out different systems,” Monica added.
Where Both Sides Agree
Despite the disagreement on payments, Monica did acknowledge a deeper connection between the two technologies. He said AI creates digital abundance while crypto creates digital scarcity, calling them “complementary technologies.”
He also noted that crypto’s privacy and verification tools could help address some of the risks that come with AI. That overlap may matter more long-term than the payments debate.
The panel did not reach a conclusion on whether blockchains will become the default rails for AI-driven commerce. The question remains open.
Crypto Market in Late February 2026
During the same week as the panel, crypto markets were posting gains despite low investor confidence. Bitcoin was up 2.74% to $65,961 and Ethereum rose 4.01% to $1,917.63, according to CoinGecko data.
Solana climbed 5.27% to $81.91, and Monero surged 7.30% to $330.56. Total crypto market cap stood at $2.34 trillion with a 24-hour trading volume of $112.69 billion.
The Fear & Greed Index sat at 11 at the time, reflecting extreme fear among investors despite the price increases.
Bitcoin held a 56.31% market dominance, with Ethereum at 9.87%.
