Why AI Agents Might Require Humans to Transact More Than as You Think

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Business News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Will AI agents use cards or stablecoins? Here’s how two crypto VCs see the agentic future shaping up. Sponsored by Nexo: A crypto lending and borrowing platform that lets users earn interest on digital assets and access credit against their holdings. Now available in the US with exclusive privileges for new clients. Get started today: http://nexo.com/unchained What happens when merchants are code instead of storefronts? Noah Levine and Robbie Petersen debate whether stablecoins or cards win in an agentic economy, and more importantly, where the profit pools end up. One sees headless merchants driving a new payment stack; the other warns that front ends never fully disappear. Both agree on this: traditional fraud detection will likely fail against AI behavior patterns, and the rails question masks a deeper problem of regulatory and social inertia. The outcome hinges on whether permissionless infrastructure can outcompete existing payment incumbents, and whether agentic commerce actually scales beyond niche use cases. Guest: Noah Levine, Partner at a16z Robbie Petersen, Junior Partner at Dragonfly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	When the tax year ends on the 5th of April, valuable tax allowances may be lost simply because people left things too late.
0:08.0	Thankfully, Vanguard is here to help you make well-consider decisions, not rushed ones.
0:14.0	Their tax year-end hub is full of clear guidance, helpful tools and timely reminders to help you understand your allowances and give your investments the best chance to grow.
0:23.6	Search Vanguard Investor to learn more. When investing, your capital is at risk. Tax rules apply.
0:29.6	Hi everyone, welcome to Unchained, your no-hyped resource for all things crypto.
0:34.6	I'm your host, Laura Shin. Thanks for joining this live stream.
0:41.2	Before we get started, a quick reminder. Nothing new here on Unchained is investment advice.
0:45.4	This show is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and my guest and I may hold assets discussed on the show. For more disclosures, visit Unchained Crypto.com.
0:50.5	Introducing Nexo, the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your digital assets.
0:56.8	Borrow against them without selling. Trade a variety of cryptocurrencies, all in one platform.
1:02.8	Now available in the U.S. Get started today at nexo.com slash unchained.
1:10.6	Today's topic is the future of agentic commerce.
1:13.6	Here to discuss are Noah Levine, partner at A16C, and Robbie Peterson, junior partner at Dragonfly.
1:19.6	Welcome, Noah and Robbie.
1:21.6	Thanks for having us.
1:23.6	Yeah, super excited to be here.
1:25.6	So the Ajectic Commerce space has seen a number of new technical offerings in recent weeks,
1:32.2	and both of you wrote pieces this week on what that future looks like.
1:36.0	It was pretty interesting actually because your visions differ a bit.
1:40.6	But Noah, why don't we start with you?
1:42.6	Describe where you think this is all headed.
1:45.7	Yeah, for sure.
	...

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