AI Agents Haven’t Taken Over DeFi (Yet)

AI agents will soon run most transactions.
AI agents have been a hot topic in Web3 circles for some time now, sparking one of the most ambitious narratives in crypto: the dream of autonomous, intelligent entities managing capital, risk, and strategy across decentralised protocols. These systems, it was said, would not only outperform humans at execution, but also liberate users from the constant monitoring and micromanagement of their digital assets.
At the height of this excitement, bold predictions began shaping this narrative; “within 1 year, the majority of all DeFi TVL will be managed by AI Agents”.
But, as time passes, the buzz of this topic is giving way to reality, especially if the current most popular AI agents are X profiles with a token. That’s not the grand vision for these agents. With their infrastructure still in its nascent or development stage, the concept of DeFi-native agents will remain abstract for only so long. The AI economy now sits in a holding pattern—waiting for the build to catch up to the narrative.
The Reality Of AI Agents
While the term “AI agent” has taken many forms, embedding these agents into blockchain environments seems to carry a particular charge—amplifying expectations. Over the past six months, it has become clear that the combination of AI Agents and Web3 has astronomical potential, but only if the sector can move past early speculation and build for long-term value for end-users, a vision shared by many.