The Identity Crisis in the Age of AI Agents: Why Has Blockchain Become the Key?

【Crypto World】By 2026, the role of AI is set to undergo a fundamental transformation.

From question-answering machines to true research assistants—AI will be able to understand complex instructions, propose innovative hypotheses, and even independently solve high-difficulty mathematical problems, much like guiding PhD students. Research paradigms are also shifting toward so-called “Renaissance Scholar” models, where AI’s “hallucinations” inspire creativity, and multi-layered “agent-wrapped agents” workflows produce high-quality results. This is the first layer of change.

But deeper challenges are emerging. We now face a new question: when the number of non-human agents far exceeds that of humans, how do we confirm “who you are trading with”?

Traditional KYC (Know Your Customer) frameworks are no longer sufficient. The era demands KYA—Know Your Agents. The problem is, these AI agents now resemble “ghosts without bank accounts,” unable to safely participate in financial and trading activities. There is an urgent need to establish infrastructure: binding each agent to its entity, permissions, and responsibilities through cryptographic signatures and credentials, making identity and trust verifiable and traceable.

Another overlooked ecological issue—the “invisible tax” of the internet. AI extensively scrapes information from open websites but bypasses traditional revenue models like advertising and subscriptions. Content creators and the entire open network are silently bearing the losses. Existing AI licensing agreements are merely temporary patches and are financially unsustainable.

The solution points to blockchain. The future requires a new techno-economic model—using blockchain to enable real-time, usage-based nano-payments and complex value attribution, ensuring every contribution automatically and fairly flows to the information-providing entities. This is not just a technological upgrade but a redefinition of the internet ecosystem.