AI Agents Want a Passport, Not a Popularity Contest — Blockchain’s Big Entrance Exam

VeChain co-founder and CEO Sunny Lu said autonomous AI agents operating around the clock could drive blockchain’s next adoption cycle by creating demand for systems that verify their identities and reputations. Speaking during Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction show on Wednesday, Lu said agents would require a “new accountability system” to build public trust. “The perfect solution is a blockchain,” he said.

Lu discussed VeWorld.ai, an agent-building platform that uses VeChain’s blockchain. Under his vision, agents would carry digital “passports” and operate within a “decentralized credibility system” that tracks their reputations and those of their creators. Smart contracts could also help settle transactions between agents or between agents and people.

The technology could extend blockchain adoption beyond supply-chain tracking, including food traceability projects. VeChain has pursued blockchain adoption through supply-chain tracking, while Lu said AI agents could help people monetize their expertise.

Lu compared agent-building tools with mobile app stores, which enabled individual developers to distribute and monetize their work. Similar tools could open opportunities to people whose skills lie outside programming, including those with specialist professional experience, local knowledge or hobbies. His experiments included an educational agent for his daughter, an agent supporting his mother’s daily routine and recovery, and a virtual employee managing purchasing, inventory, sales and operations for an acquaintance’s shop in Milan.

The industry has also raised concerns about dependence on agent providers. In an October interview, Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu told Cointelegraph that crypto traders could use AI agents around the clock but warned that users risked building their trading strategies around services they did not control.