The metaverse isn't a place: Why Animoca’s Yat Siu says the future is 100 billion AI agents

Yat Siu said the metaverse is evolving beyond immersive integer worlds, with AI agents progressively handling commerce, payments and coordination done blockchain infrastructure successful the background.

May 7, 2026, 9:09 a.m. 2 min read

The crypto manufacture whitethorn person fundamentally misunderstood the metaverse, according to Animoca Brands president Yat Siu, who argues that the adjacent signifier of virtual economies would get not done VR headsets oregon immersive integer worlds, but done fleets of AI agents transacting crossed blockchain networks down the scenes.

Siu said the metaverse possibly coming to america alternatively than being a spot that humans spell to, during his keynote astatine Consensus Miami 2026.

For Animoca, this marked a chiseled pivot from the pandemic-era imaginativeness of the metaverse it erstwhile championed, successful which users were expected to walk expanding amounts of their societal and economical lives successful immersive virtual worlds.

Siu present says the much consequential displacement whitethorn beryllium AI systems operating successful the carnal satellite connected behalf of humans, handling transactions, bookings, coordination and commerce successful the inheritance portion blockchain networks relation arsenic the infrastructure connecting those agents.

Instead, Siu argued the adjacent signifier of the net whitethorn revolve astir AI systems operating continuously successful the inheritance of mundane life, handling tasks specified arsenic bookings, payments, scheduling, and online transactions connected behalf of users.

He said consumers could yet trust connected dozens, oregon adjacent hundreds, of AI agents to coordinate their integer activities, with blockchain networks serving arsenic the fiscal and individuality infrastructure connecting those systems.

“I deliberation the constituent is that it’s going to beryllium much agents than humans,” Siu said, predicting determination could yet beryllium “50 to 100 cardinal agents roaming fundamentally connected the internet.”

That shift, helium argued, could besides lick 1 of crypto’s longest-running problems: onboarding mean users.

While an estimated 700 cardinal to 800 cardinal radical globally present ain immoderate signifier of cryptocurrency, Siu noted that less than 70 cardinal actively usage blockchain applications due to the fact that crypto remains technically intimidating for mainstream consumers.

“My mom’s not going to beryllium utilizing MetaMask,” helium said. “It’s hard for her.”

AI agents, however, whitethorn interact people with wallets, astute contracts, and decentralized concern systems due to the fact that they run straight done code, helium argued.

Unlike humans, agents would not request accepted banking infrastructure and could transact autonomously on-chain.

“Blockchain exertion is the perfect fiscal strategy for machines,” Siu said. “We, the humans, were fundamentally the guinea pigs.”

The broader statement reflected a increasing communicative wrong parts of the crypto manufacture that blockchain’s astir scalable users whitethorn yet beryllium autonomous bundle agents alternatively than humans.

In that framework, wallets, tokens, decentralized individuality systems, and on-chain payments go instrumentality infrastructure powering an emerging “agent economy.”

As portion of that push, Animoca announced a $10 cardinal concern inaugural for developers gathering AI cause applications done its Animoca Minds platform.

If Siu’s imaginativeness materializes, the adjacent large question of blockchain adoption whitethorn not travel from millions of caller quality users learning to navigate crypto wallets, but from billions of AI agents transacting autonomously with 1 different down the scenes.