Most conversations about crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) tend to drift into hypotheticals. The real overlap between the two is much simpler.
If AI systems are going to work on their own, they need a way to pay for services.
During a recent interview on TheStreet Roundtable with Markus Levin from XYO, Scott Melker framed the intersection clearly.
“I get countless questions about the crossover between crypto and AI, where they meet,” he said. “And I think the clear answer is payments.”
As AI agents begin performing services for other agents, value transfer becomes unavoidable.
“If my agent is doing a service for your agent, they’re going to need a way to get paid,” he said. “That’s going to happen on a blockchain, or at least digitally.”
The problem extends beyond software. As robotics and connected devices scale, machines will increasingly interact in the physical world.
“We have drones and smart gadgets and smart cities all trying to pay each other,” Melker said. “How do you act as that bridge.”
Levin believes that what is missing is trust between systems. Before a payment can happen, there needs to be proof that work was completed. If a machine plows a field or a drone delivers a package, that action can be verified and trigger automatic payments. XYO is building that "bridge."
“We can prove that something really happened,” he said. “It’s like proof of work for robots.”
As systems become more autonomous, the interactions grow more complex. Machines may negotiate road access, delivery routes, or service priority in real time. Blockchain becomes the coordination layer that allows those interactions to happen without human oversight.
Why not use established networks?
That vision requires infrastructure designed for more than simple value transfers. Levin was asked why an entirely new blockchain was needed when others already exist. The answer came down to data.
“All the blockchains I’m aware of are there to transact value within its chain,” the builder said. “They’re not so much built for data.”
Current blockchains do not offer effective or affordable options for storing data. XYO is building a chain that is specifically meant to solve this problem.
“We built a blockchain which is made for data,” he said. “It’s very cheap not only to store data there, but also to analyze it and make sure that it’s immutable.”