Crypto wallets for AI agents are creating a new legal frontier, says Electric Capital

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Crypto wallets for AI agents are creating a new legal frontier, says Electric Capital As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not. By Margaux Nijkerk | Edited by Stephen Alpher Feb 24, 2026, 9:52 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Electric Capital's Avichal Garg at NEARCON 2026 (Margaux Nijkerk/ CoinDesk) What to know : Crypto isn’t just building faster payments rails. It may be building the financial system for non-humans. As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not. SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Crypto isn’t just building faster payments rails. It may be building the financial system for non-humans. As AI agents grow more autonomous, developers are already giving them crypto wallets, allowing software to hold assets, pay for services, trade tokens and even hire other agents. The technical pieces are falling into place. The legal ones are not. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . At a recent panel at NEARCON 2026, Electric Capital’s Avichal Garg framed the moment as historically significant. “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.” Crypto makes this possible in a way traditional finance cannot. Blockchains allow programmable money, instant settlement and global access. Pair that with AI agents capable of making decisions, and you get something new: software that can both think and transact. Garg compared the shift to the creation of the limited liability corporation in the 19th century — a legal breakthrough that unlocked pooled capital and industrial-scale growth. “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 enforcement remains unresolved. “You can’t punish an AI,” Garg noted. “You can turn them off, but they don’t care.” If autonomous agents begin trading, lending, hiring and scaling businesses onchain, lawmakers may face a foundational question: Who is liable when software with its own wallet acts independently? Read more: Kraken’s co-CEO could trust AI with 100% of his crypto — Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi isn’t convinced Electric Capital Crypto Wallets AI More For You Payments giant Stripe reportedly mulling PayPal acquisition By Krisztian Sandor | Edited by Stephen Alpher 1 minute ago Bloomberg reported that Stripe — which has growing stablecoin and blockchain ambitions — is exploring a deal for the embattled fintech. What to know : Stripe is considering a bid for all or parts of PayPal's business, Bloomberg reported. A deal would marry two payment processing firms with growing interest in stablecoins and crypto rails. Already higher this week on buyout rumors, PYPL shares rose another 7% on the news. Read full story Latest Crypto News Payments giant Stripe reportedly mulling PayPal acquisition 1 minute ago Bitwise's Hunter Horsley says AI Is ‘unstoppable freight train’ for crypto, while Haun’s Monica urges caution 23 minutes ago Crypto isn't losing to AI, its just 'capitalism doing its job,' says Dragonfly 1 hour ago Crypto’s biggest exchange fights back against allegations of moving billions of Iran-linked money 1 hour ago Millions in crypto funded tools to exploit U.S. software, Treasury says in new sanctions 2 hours ago Fed proposes rule to deal with crypto debanking by scrapping 'reputation risk' 3 hours ago Top Stories Bitcoin retakes $64,000, crypto miners rally, as AI-related software rout eases 4 hours ago Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is planning stablecoin comeback in the second half of this year 7 hours ago 'If you’re not accumulating bitcoin at this stage, then when,' asks prominent analyst 8 hours ago Coinbase adds stock, ETF trading as it expands beyond crypto 7 hours ago Kraken rolls out crypto-style, 24/7 perpetuals trading for tokenized U.S. stocks 6 hours ago Stripe's Bridge sees stablecoin volume quadruple as utility insulates from 'crypto winter' 5 hours ago