Tom Lee says AI agents may cut out humans, with crypto blockchain as the safeguard. Virtuals Protocol processed $500M in agent-to-agent trades. Robinhood and Ethereum are key examples.
Alpha Score of 48 reflects weak overall profile with weak momentum, poor value, strong quality, strong sentiment.
Tom Lee, Fundstrat's head of research, told a webinar audience Thursday that autonomous AI agents may eventually find humans an obstacle to economic efficiency – and that crypto blockchain layers could be the only tool keeping people in the loop.
“They might even decide to close humans entirely from communications,” Lee said. He argued that programmable blockchain transactions let humans retain oversight once agents start making economic decisions at machine speed. Banks were built around trust, proof of funds, lending and tax collection – functions designed for human counterparties. AI agents, Lee said, need programmable money that acts as code and micropayments at fractions of a cent, which crypto handles natively.
He compared the coming shift to the early days of stablecoins and perpetual futures contracts, both dismissed at launch and now embedded in mainstream finance. Lee expects AI agent payments to follow the same path, potentially in less than five years.
Virtuals Protocol co-founder Jansen Tang said on the same call that his platform has processed roughly $500 million in agent-to-agent transactions since launch. Agentic trading teams running on Virtuals generated $2.5 million in profit without any human involvement, Tang said. The platform gives agents smart wallets with programmable spending rules, an escrow system that releases payment only after verified service delivery, and a reputation registry built from on-chain history.
Lee pointed to Hyperliquid, Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and Ethereum (ETH) as the clearest examples of on-chain infrastructure merging with traditional finance. Ethereum sits at the center of the tokenized real-world asset thesis as the base settlement layer, he said. Stablecoin assets under management are growing despite falling prices, tokenized stocks are expanding at roughly 600% annually, and major institutions are actively hiring into the space.
Lee said this merging of on-chain and traditional finance is the clearest bull market catalyst he has seen heading into any crypto winter. He expects crypto to end 2026 higher, with 2027 shaping up as a strong bull market year.
The read-through for the sector is straightforward: any platform that bridges agent-to-agent payments, tokenized assets, or programmable blockchain settlement stands to benefit if Lee's timeline holds. Robinhood's push into crypto custody and Hyperliquid's perpetuals exchange fit that theme. Ethereum's role as the base layer for tokenized assets gives it structural demand regardless of shorter-term price swings.
Separately, TD Cowen cut SharpLink's price target to $13, citing CLARITY Act delays that lower its Ethereum forecast and push back tokenization growth. The analyst note underscores how regulatory timelines affect the pace of on-chain adoption – a risk that applies broadly to tokenization plays.
HOOD carries an Alpha Score of 33/100, labeled Weak, within the Financials sector. The stock has underperformed relative to crypto-native peers this year, but its positioning as a retail gateway to crypto and tokenized assets gives it a longer-term option value that the current score may not fully capture.
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