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Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu told Consensus Miami 2026 that the metaverse is over as a consumer destination, and that 100 billion AI agents will become blockchain\u2019s primary users.<\/p>\n
\n Summary<\/span>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu told<\/a> Consensus Miami 2026 on Thursday that the metaverse, as the crypto industry imagined it during the pandemic, was never really built for humans. <\/p>\n \u201cWhere we\u2019re landing is that the metaverse, the blockchain-based one, was really the proof of concept for agents,\u201d he said. \u201cIn other words, it was never really destined for humans as a prime consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n The remarks mark a clean break from Animoca\u2019s earlier positioning. The firm was among the most prominent advocates of the pandemic-era metaverse vision, which assumed users would spend growing amounts of their social and economic lives in immersive virtual environments. <\/p>\n Siu attributed that misconception to the distorting conditions of COVID lockdowns, when it seemed remote digital life would become permanent. \u201cEveryone thought, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re going to be at home, and we\u2019re never going to travel as much anymore,’\u201d he said. \u201cWhich, of course, turned out to be quite the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Siu\u2019s new thesis is that blockchain\u2019s most scalable user base will not be humans but autonomous AI agents. \u201cI think the point is that it\u2019s going to be more agents than humans,\u201d he said, estimating 50 to 100 billion agents could eventually operate on the internet. <\/p>\n On current population math, 10 to 20 agents per human produces between 70 and 140 billion agents globally. \u201cBlockchain technology is the ideal financial system for machines,\u201d Siu said. \u201cWe, the humans, were basically the guinea pigs.\u201d<\/p>\n The argument centres on a practical problem that has limited crypto\u2019s reach. Approximately 700 to 800 million people globally own some form of cryptocurrency, but as crypto.news reported<\/a>, fewer than 70 million actively use blockchain applications, largely because the technology remains too complex for mainstream consumers. AI agents do not face that barrier. <\/p>\n They interact directly through code, require no traditional banking infrastructure, and can transact autonomously on-chain. As part of the pivot, Animoca announced<\/a> a $10 million initiative for developers building AI agent applications through its Animoca Minds platform, framing agents as its next major investment category after the metaverse era closes.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n
What comes next: the agent economy<\/h2>\n