I recently joined Dan Turchin on the AI and the Future of Work podcast to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI), stablecoins and the tokenised economy are changing the future of money, and why many financial institutions may be preparing for the wrong disruption.
When I wrote The Great Transition, I argued that finance was moving towards personalisation. That shift is now taking a new form. It is no longer only about decentralisation or digital assets, but about agentic AI in banking and finance, where AI agents act on behalf of users.
This changes the relationship between individuals and financial institutions.
Banks have spent years improving apps and digital interfaces. In an agentic AI environment, the user may no longer interact directly with a bank’s app. Their AI agent will compare options, execute instructions and decide which institution offers the best access, speed and utility.
The question for banks is no longer whether the app is easy to use. It is whether their systems allow AI agents to transact securely, intelligently and in real time.
Stablecoins reveal a parallel shift in the future of finance.
They have enabled small businesses in underserved markets to transact globally without relying fully on traditional banking infrastructure. Dollar-based stablecoins have grown because they are simple, liquid and widely understood. Their value lies not only in regulation, but in the network of users who depend on them for real transactions.
This also explains why state-led digital currencies face limits.
Central bank digital currencies may look powerful in theory, but states often underestimate the work needed to build adoption, usability and trust. China’s eCNY remains a useful example of how difficult it is for a government-led digital currency to scale without strong user demand.
The same pressure is reaching payments.
Visa and Mastercard remain powerful networks, but national payment rails, regional payment systems and stablecoin-based alternatives are chipping away at parts of their model. The future of payments will not be one replacement system, but a more fragmented financial architecture built around interoperability, real-time settlement and user choice.
AI will accelerate this transition.
As intelligence moves into devices, tokens and agents, finance will operate more like an information network. Speed, access and trust will matter more than institutional control. The value of financial institutions will depend less on owning the interface and more on enabling transactions across networks.
The human role also changes.
AI can process information and retrieve answers, but it cannot replace originality of thought. Its value depends on the quality of the questions we ask and the problems we are able to frame.
The question is no longer whether AI will improve banking.
It is how financial institutions operate in a world where users are represented by AI agents, money moves across networks no single institution controls, and intelligence increasingly sits outside the organisation.
That transition is already underway.
Listen to the full podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/19098514
