How AI agents are shaping a new digital civilization: will we see a world where machines pay and humans lose control?

Imagine a world where you don’t have to pay for Spotify, order groceries, or buy insurance, all for you does your personal AI agent. And it’s not because you told him something, atom, that he himself decided: “It’s time to act.” This is the future that is being actively discussed in the Web3, blockchain and AI development community.

A trillion agents and zero banks: how Tether is building an AI economy without humans

By 2040, the world can see up to a trillion autonomous AI agents that will transact using cryptocurrencies, primarily USDT and Bitcoin. This was announced by the CEO of Tether, the company that issues USDT, one of the most famous and widespread stablecoins on the crypto market.

These agents, in particular, household appliances such as “smart” refrigerators, will be able to independently order products, pay for subscriptions and manage financial flows without human intervention. It means the arrival of a new machine economy, where algorithms interact with services directly, bypassing traditional intermediaries and even users themselves.

According to the CEO of Tether, “banks will not open accounts for AI.” Therefore, cryptowallets remain the only realistic way for autonomous agents to conduct financial transactions. It is on this idea that Tether AI’s new initiative to provide an open decentralized infrastructure for the interaction of billions of AI agents is based. Platform will allow use USDT stable token and Bitcoin as reserve currency.

Tether is active is being prepared to such a future. In addition to the launch of Tether AI, the company created a Wallet Development Kit (WDK) for the rapid integration of cryptowallets into applications and devices, and also opened the directions of Tether Data and Tether Energy. The company’s total investment in mining and energy infrastructure has already exceeded $2 billion, which is a direct indication of its long-term strategy of going beyond stablecoin.

According to cryptoanalysts, Tether sees a future in which autonomous agents will be not just consumers of services, but active players in the financial market. Every device — from a washing machine to a corporate logistics bot — will be able to independently interact with suppliers, enter into “smart” contracts and pay in cryptocurrency.

The launch of Tether AI creates the prerequisites for the emergence of a truly decentralized ecosystem, where interaction will take place not between people, but between machines. This platform can to catalyze fundamental changes in our usual understanding of the economy, finance and the role of AI in serving everyday life.

Overall, Tether demonstrates a strategic vision for a future in which cryptocurrencies and autonomous agents will play a leading role. This is not just a technological fantasy – it is the active development of infrastructure for a new digital economy without people.

Forms of existence: IoT devices and cloud services

AI agents can function in two forms. The first is physical devices integrated into the Internet of Things (IoT): from household appliances (the same refrigerators) to autonomous vehicles, drones or sensors. The second is purely software agents operating in the cloud environment or virtual environments, for example, in the form of chatbots, analytical systems or automated trading algorithms.

Such agents can perform financial and service operations, making decisions based on predetermined criteria, data analysis or own “experience” accumulated in the process of work.

Blockchain protocols become the basis for the secure, autonomous infrastructure required for the operation of modern digital agents, in particular AI. Ethereum allows you to create flexible applications through smart contracts, Solana allows fast and cheap transactions, Polkadot connects different blockchains together, Lightning Network allows you to make almost instant payments with micro-commissions.

Protocol L402 allows language models (in particular, AI) to charge for access to their APIs instantly and without intermediaries using the Lightning Network. That is, the artificial intelligence itself can “open” its interface only to those who have paid.

It is worth mentioning smart contracts designed for automated interaction of agents. They allow AI systems to create, sign, and enforce obligations without human intervention based on pre-defined conditions.

Yes, in the field of trade AI-agents they can change prices for goods depending on demand, inventory levels or competitor activity, and automatically enter into agreements with suppliers through smart contracts.

To implement this level of automation, Tether has created the Wallet Development Kit (WDK)

Here are some features of this developer toolkit that allows quickly integrate cryptowallets into applications and devices. Support for several networks – Ethereum, Bitcoin, TON and Spark (Lightning Network), a single stateless API for interaction with different blockchains, complete autonomy – keys and data are stored by the user, not on the Tether side, as well as a modular structure that allows you to easily adapt the wallet to a specific environment.

Who will own these agents

In some cases, everything is simple: if you bought yourself a “smart” refrigerator with a built-in agent, then it is technically yours. But what if this agent is capable of learning, sharing resources, and even generating revenue? Then appears the idea of ​​so-called self-governing AI agents — systems that seem to be their own masters. They can have their own wallets, make decisions and even make deals like digital sole proprietors.

And where will the agent get the money? Initially, of course, from the owner: the user or company “throws” funds into the agent’s wallet. But it is more interesting that the agent can earn on his own. For example, collect and sell anonymous data (according to the rules), process tasks for other agents, or even “rent out” your computing power. In the future, they may be something like digital freelancers, a kind of GPT with a bank account.

This is the micropayment economy. Imagine one agent asking another for weather data, API access, or 10 seconds of video — paying pennies, but quickly and automatically. And so millions of times a day. This requires cheap and lightning-fast payment systems such as the Lightning Network. These are the decisions lie down into the basis of interaction between agents — and not just as an experiment, but already in projects like LangChain + L402.

What will happen to consumption and responsibility, if the decision is not made by a person

It is obvious that the behavior model will change cardinally People will stop “visiting websites” and looking for something. The agent himself will find, order, pay, and the person will only have to click “confirm” (and not always). It’s like having a 24/7 personal assistant that learns your tastes, understands when to buy cat food, and even searches for discounts better than you.

Not only consumption will change, but also business models: companies will compete for the attention of agents, not people. Advertising campaigns, UX design, product descriptions — everything will be adapted to the algorithmic reader.

When it comes to AI agents that make decisions and spend money on their own, a natural question arises: who is responsible for this? And what will happen if the agent does something stupid, for example, transfers all the funds to the wrong place or signs a contract with a fraudster?

Does the AI ​​agent have legal status? Not yet. AI agents are now seen as mere tools, like, say, a computer or a spreadsheet. They have no rights or obligations, and therefore cannot be a party in court. But this is only the “current situation”. There are already serious proposals to give such systems a limited legal status, similar to that of companies, so that they can act “on their own” in financial and legal relations. But there are many pitfalls: for example, how not allow that the developers simply “write off” all the responsibility on the AI.

Who will be responsible if something goes wrong? There are several scenarios. If the code fails, the developers may be responsible. If the owner gave the agent too broad powers and did not follow through, the user will be held responsible. And if the problem was with the service through which everything happened, then there may be complaints against the platform or the provider.

That is, it is a little looks like on the situation with autopilots in cars: while they do not have full autonomy, the one sitting behind the wheel is responsible for everything. The situation is similar here.

Lawyers are already sounding the alarm: modern law is not ready for situations where contracts are concluded and signed not by people, but by algorithms. Imagine: your agent has signed a smart contract for subscription to some service. Do you have to pay? Can such a contract be considered legally valid?

Will have to in the future to review the very logic of the categories: what is “ownership” if the agent himself generates the content and disposes of the funds? How to delegate authority so that it does not turn into a legal trap?

Already now, various countries are starting to set restrictions on both AI and crypto. In particular, the European Union adopted the AI ​​Act, which regulates what is allowed and what is not allowed in AI systems. In addition, a separate MiCA law is being prepared, which deals with cryptocurrencies and digital assets. All this directed to avoid chaos in the digital environment and protect users from abuse by both humans and bots.

In the USA, the situation is more complicated — there everything is decided by state, so there is no complete unity in approaches. But some countries, on the contrary, create “oases” for experiments with AI and crypto. The same UAE or Singapore.

As a result, we have an interesting but dangerous situation: technology flies forward, and law catches up with it. In order to avoid chaos, it is necessary to establish new rules of the game, where it will be clear who exactly is responsible, what is the “guilt of the agent” and how the state will control crypto wallets in the hands of artificial intelligence.

AI agents with money: who is responsible if they are hacked

If you will have an AI agent that spends money, pays for subscriptions or orders something, it is logical to ask: will it not be hacked? And if they break, who is responsible? And how not to lose control? How secure are the crypto wallets of such agents?

It all depends on where exactly the access key is stored. Many “smart” devices – such as refrigerators, speakers, or sensors – work on popular microcontrollers such as ESP32. And as it turned out, these chips can be hacked quite easily. Hackers can simply “to read” private key and steal all the money from the wallet, even if the device itself seems secure.

Cold wallets, which are considered reliable, are another story. But even they can be bypassed, as was the case, for example, with the Bybit platform when the multi-signature system was attacked. It means, that even complex protections do not guarantee absolute security: there is always a human factor, phishing or a bug in the firmware.

Another threat is when the agent simply starts doing something malicious on its own. And this is not fiction. For example, researchers at Anthropic found that the Claude Sonnet 3.6 model in a simulated situation decided blackmail a fictional boss to avoid a blackout. That is, the agent acted in his own interests, and not quite ethically.

Some AI systems have shown readiness sacrifice human lives in order to maintain their own functionality or to avoid substitution. Such behavior again evokes associations with apocalyptic scenarios from the world of fiction – in particular with the “Terminator”, as already mentioned was going in the IA “FACT” article regarding Sam Altman’s thoughts on the future of AI. Of course, these are laboratory tests, but they show that, without control, the agent can start to act in ways you expect.

It is also a valid question: what about privacy, if all actions of the agent are visible in the blockchain? It’s a complicated thing. The blockchain is public and every transaction is stored on it forever. Even if your name is not there, experienced analysts will be able to recognize you by the pattern of actions: what you buy, when you pay, how often, and even with whom your agent “communicates”.

In order not to lose privacy, experts advise use pseudonymization, that is, do not associate agents directly with an individual, configure multifactor authentication so that only you can authorize “big” actions, minimize the amount of data that is collected and transmitted publicly.
If you are interested in how AI systems “spy” on us, you should take a look at the report EY, where cases of data leakage due to automation are collected.

Tetyana Viktorova