Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, argues that crypto’s persistent friction stems from a deeper mismatch: its architecture appears better aligned with artificial intelligence (AI) agents.
In his view, many of crypto’s perceived failure modes are not design flaws but signals that humans were never the ideal primary users.
Sponsored
The Human-Crypto Disconnect
In a detailed post on X, Qureshi argued that a fundamental divide exists between human decision-making and blockchain’s deterministic architecture. He said the early vision of the industry imagined a world where smart contracts would substitute legal agreements and courts, with property rights enforced directly on-chain.
That shift, however, has not materialized. Even crypto-native firms such as Dragonfly still rely on conventional legal contracts.
According to Qureshi, the issue is not technical failure but social misalignment. Blockchain systems function as designed, yet they are not structured around human behavior and error. He also contrasted this with traditional banking, which has evolved over centuries to account for mistakes and misuse.
He added that long cryptographic addresses, blind signing, immutable transactions, and automated enforcement do not align with human intuition about money.
Sponsored
AI Agents: Crypto’s True Natives?
Qureshi suggested that AI agents may be more naturally suited to crypto’s design. He explained that AI agents do not fatigue or skip verification steps.
They can analyze contract logic, simulate edge cases, and execute transactions without emotional hesitation. While humans may prefer the legal systems, AI agents may favor the determinism of code. According to him,
Sponsored
Qureshi forecasted that the crypto interface of the future will be a “self-driving wallet,” entirely mediated by AI. In this model, AI agents manage financial activities on behalf of users.
He also suggested that autonomous agents could transact directly with each other, positioning crypto’s always-on, permissionless infrastructure as a natural foundation for a machine-to-machine economy.
Still, he cautioned that such a shift would not occur overnight. Technological systems often require complementary breakthroughs before reaching mainstream relevance.
Sponsored
Recently, Bankless founder Ryan Adams also argued that crypto adoption has stalled due to poor user experience. However, he suggested that what appears to be “bad UX” for humans may actually be optimal UX for AI agents.
Adams predicted that billions of AI agents could eventually drive crypto markets beyond $10 trillion.
The machine-native crypto thesis is powerful, but real constraints remain. AI agents may transact autonomously, yet liability still ultimately rests with humans or institutions, keeping legal systems relevant.
Deterministic smart contracts reduce ambiguity but do not eliminate exploits, governance failures, or systemic risk. Lastly, an argument could also be made that if AI becomes the primary interface, crypto may fade into backend infrastructure rather than function as a parallel financial order.
Source: https://beincrypto.com/crypto-ai-agents-human-misalignment/
