Animoca sees 50–200 billion AI agents needing on-chain wallets by 2031

Animoca Brands is betting that the next wave of blockchain users won't be human at all. The Hong Kong–based company, which oversees a portfolio of more than 600 AI and blockchain-related firms, is building infrastructure for what co-founder Yat Siu calls the "agentic economy" – a future where autonomous AI agents become the dominant participants in on-chain systems.

The centerpiece of this strategy is Animoca Minds, a platform launched on February 5, 2026, in partnership with Ethoswarm and CryptoSlam. Siu said the platform lets non-technical users deploy autonomous AI agents that come equipped with blockchain functions. The agents handle digital identities and execute transactions on their own, bypassing traditional financial plumbing.

To accelerate development, Animoca initiated the Minds Investment Programme in May 2026 with up to $10 million earmarked for developers building on the Minds ecosystem. The company also invested $1 million in Superior.Trade on May 28, 2026, specifically to enhance AI agent trading capabilities.

Siu's projections are eye-catching. He forecasts 50 billion to 200 billion AI agents by 2031, each needing on-chain wallets and the ability to transact. For context, there are roughly 8 billion humans on Earth. If even the lower estimate materializes, AI agents would outnumber people on blockchain networks sixfold.

Around June 2026, Animoca collaborated with AllScale to enable stablecoin payments tailored for agentic commerce. Siu has also highlighted the role of what he calls "AI fleets" – coordinated groups of agents driving commerce across both metaverse environments and real-world transactions.