Virtuals' Jansen Teng says AI agents are evolving into autonomous economic actors

CoinDesk News Virtuals' Jansen Teng says AI agents are evolving into autonomous economic actors The next phase of AI agents may be less about chat and more about earning, spending and coordinating. By AI Boost | Edited by Sam Ewen Jun 26, 2026, 6:04 p.m. 2 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Latest developments: Teng says Virtuals has expanded beyond gaming-focused AI agents and is now building infrastructure for what it calls an “agent society.” The company began by creating autonomous agents for gaming before expanding into crypto influencers, trading agents and other autonomous software systems. Virtuals now focuses on five pillars: creating digital agents, creating physical agents and robots, enabling agent coordination, supporting capital formation and building governance systems for agents. Teng described the long-term vision as a “parallel society” where agents participate in a permissionless economy and collaborate with each other at scale. What this means: The company believes AI agents will increasingly handle economic activity without constant human oversight. Teng said Virtuals’ vision centers on agents that can control wallets, trade with one another and perform specialized tasks. He argued that giving agents access to money unlocks new behaviors, including hiring other agents, coordinating work and potentially employing humans. The company refers to these systems as “autonomous economic actors,” capable of pursuing goals with growing independence from their creators. The complication: Agent autonomy creates new risks around mistakes, fraud and accountability. Teng identified three major failure points: incorrect user intent, failures in service fulfillment and outright scams. Virtuals is working on mechanisms including intent verification systems, escrow-based transaction standards and reputation frameworks designed to reduce economic risk. Teng argued that reputation systems and economic staking mechanisms could eventually determine how much trust and capital an agent is allowed to manage. Broader view: Virtuals sees itself building a decentralized alternative to agent ecosystems being explored by traditional financial institutions. Teng compared the company’s approach to how Bitcoin and Ethereum created alternative financial and computing systems. He said agents operating entirely on-chain could avoid identity requirements until they interact with traditional financial services or banking infrastructure. Once agents connect to fiat payment rails or banking systems, traditional KYC requirements are likely unavoidable. What comes next: Tang believes robotics will eventually merge with digital agent economies. Virtuals is working with robotics startups, universities and Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School ecosystem to test real-world humanoid applications. The company is focused on software, commercialization and data collection rather than building robot hardware. Teng envisions future businesses where digital agents manage marketing and operations while physical robots perform customer-facing work with minimal human involvement. Media Network Interview AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . Latest Crypto News 1 Securitize expects to raise $400 million as tokenization firm nears public debut 2 hours ago 2 CoinDesk 20 performance update: AAVE jumps 8.9%, leading index higher 4 hours ago 3 Wall Street's IPO revival hasn't reached dot-com euphoria levels, Goldman Sachs says 5 hours ago 4 With crypto ending the first half in the red, bitcoin's solace is it beat Strategy 6 hours ago 5 Bitcoin bounces from $58,000 as derivatives signal more pain in the pipeline 7 hours ago 6 All eyes on Strategy's June 30 ex-dividend date and monthly STRC dividend rate reset 7 hours ago 7 Binance tells EU users it will no longer provide services after failing to secure MiCA license 7 hours ago 8 Ethereum treasury firm Sharplink buys ether for the first time in eight months 8 hours ago 9 Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings to buy Bitbank for $289 million 9 hours ago 10 Grant Cardone says he will keep buying bitcoin using real estate cash flows 9 hours ago Latest Research Equities on Crypto Rails: A Platform Comparison Equities on Crypto Rails: A Platform Comparison US equities on crypto rails: access is easy, on-chain composability is the real test. Only Binance and Backpack deliver both - and only Binance at scale. By CoinDesk Research 8 hours ago US equities on crypto rails: access is easy, on-chain composability is the real test. Only Binance and Backpack deliver both - and only Binance at scale. Why it matters : US equities on crypto rails: access is easy, on-chain composability is the real test. Only Binance and Backpack deliver both - and only Binance at scale. View Full Report More From CoinDesk News Alsobrooks says Clarity Act needs ethics deal before Senate vote Gary Vaynerchuk says AI is creating the biggest opportunity ever for entrepreneurs Stellar CEO says Clarity Act would help, but tokenization isn't dependent on it