a16z crypto partner: The crypto industry is entering the "shirt era," and the integration of blockchain and AI will drive on-chain agency payments

Guy Wuollet, a partner at a16z crypto, stated in Fortune's Crypto Playbook that the crypto industry is maturing and is currently in the "shirt era," not fully formalized but having moved beyond the early stages. He pointed out that the dominant trend in the current crypto industry is Wall Street's rapid adoption of blockchain, with traditional financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity not only offering Bitcoin ETFs but also embracing blockchain technology in the areas of stablecoins and tokenized stocks.

Wuollet also noted that the integration of blockchain and AI is laying the groundwork for on-chain agency commerce. He mentioned that a large number of talents from the consumer AI field are entering the crypto industry because they believe that the first agency payments will occur on-chain, and Stripe also discussed agency payments in its annual letter. Regarding the issue of fragmentation that different payment standards might cause, Wuollet believes that AI models excel at understanding different systems, so this is unlikely to slow down the pace of adoption.