Crypto Executives at Consensus 2026 Say AI Agents Will Take DeFi Mainstream
Decentralized finance, or DeFi, uses blockchains and smart contracts to provide lending and trading services and is emerging as infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets such as stocks and real estate. Despite North Korean hackers targeting Drift Protocol and Kelp DAO in attacks that caused combined losses of about $600 million, eToro said the onchain lending market was still worth more than $100 billion.
Executives from eToro, Bitwise Asset Management and a16z Crypto told a Consensus Miami panel on May 7, 2026, that autonomous AI agents capable of opening wallets, moving across blockchains and executing trades would need DeFi-style financial rails. Bitwise, which manages about $15 billion in assets, also said it had received inquiries from regulated fintech companies and neobanks about compliant DeFi products.
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The history behind this eventAI Agents and RWAs Lead Crypto’s 10 Most Promising Sectors for Second Half of 2026
After speculation drove the crypto market in 2021, capital gradually shifted toward projects with verifiable adoption, revenue and token value capture. AI agents can execute trades autonomously, while real-world assets, or RWAs, bring assets such as stocks and commodities on-chain. Ethereum’s EIP-7702 and AgentKit from Coinbase’s Base lower authorization barriers, making AI agents and RWAs central themes at the intersection of artificial intelligence and on-chain finance.
Pink Brains published its analysis of the 10 most promising sectors for the second half of 2026 on June 8. The AI crypto sector grew from about $9 billion in early 2025 to roughly $22 billion–$27 billion in May 2026. Although AI agent tokens generally fell 80%–90% in the first quarter, those with practical utility continued to attract capital. Open interest in RWA perpetual contracts also doubled, while Hyperliquid’s market share reached 44%.
Charles Hoskinson Says AI Agents Will Dominate the Internet and Reshape Crypto-DeFi Interactions
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has long advocated giving blockchain users control over their identities, data and assets. As generative AI evolves from chat tools into agentic systems capable of independently planning and executing tasks, its integration with cryptocurrency and decentralized finance could reshape the power of online platforms and access to financial services.
Speaking at Consensus 2026, Hoskinson predicted that AI agents would become the dominant force on the internet by 2035 and could even surpass human users in importance, posing a challenge to Big Tech. He said agents could independently conduct due diligence on crypto assets and execute DeFi transactions. His address did not disclose any investment amount or product launch date.
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