SKN | AI Agents With Crypto Wallets Spark New Legal Questions, Electric Capital Warns

Key Points

• Electric Capital’s Avichal Garg says crypto infrastructure may become the financial backbone for autonomous AI agents.

• Developers are already equipping AI agents with crypto wallets, enabling them to hold assets, transact and hire other agents.

• While the technical framework is advancing rapidly, legal accountability and liability remain unresolved.

Crypto as Infrastructure for Non-Human Economies

Electric Capital believes crypto may be building something far larger than faster payments — it may be laying the groundwork for an economy operated by software.

As artificial intelligence agents become more autonomous, developers are equipping them with blockchain wallets. These wallets allow AI systems to hold digital assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even compensate other agents programmatically.

The technological rails — programmable money, instant settlement and permissionless global access — are already live on public blockchains. What’s missing is the legal clarity.

“What Happens If There’s No Human?”

At NEARCON 2026 in San Francisco, Electric Capital co-founder Avichal Garg framed the issue bluntly.

“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.”

Unlike traditional financial systems, blockchains enable autonomous agents to transact without intermediaries. If paired with increasingly capable AI models, software could operate small businesses, deploy capital, lend funds or provide services without direct human control.

Crypto makes this frictionless interaction possible. Smart contracts automate execution, wallets provide custody and decentralized networks offer global reach.

A Shift Comparable to the LLC

Garg compared the emergence of autonomous economic agents to the creation of the limited liability corporation in the 19th century — a legal innovation that dramatically reduced participation costs and enabled industrial expansion.

“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 unlike corporations, which have legal personhood and defined liability structures, AI agents lack a clear regulatory framework.

The Liability Problem

If an AI agent causes harm — executes a fraudulent trade, violates sanctions rules or breaches a contract — who bears responsibility?

“You can’t punish an AI,” Garg noted. “You can turn them off, but they don’t care.”

That dilemma places lawmakers and regulators in uncharted territory. Traditional legal systems assume human or corporate actors. Autonomous agents blur that line, especially if they self-improve, reinvest profits and operate continuously across jurisdictions.

A Legal Frontier

As AI agents begin trading, lending and coordinating onchain, policymakers may confront a foundational question: can software meaningfully “own” assets, and if so, who is accountable for its actions?

Crypto provides the rails. AI provides the decision-making layer. Together, they may form a new economic class — one not rooted in human agency.

Whether legal frameworks evolve to accommodate that reality remains uncertain. What is clear is that the technical architecture is advancing faster than the regulatory one, setting the stage for one of the most consequential governance debates of the digital age.