Citrini Says Agentic Finance Fosters ‘New Paradigm’ for Crypto Investing

Citrini Research, an independent investment research firm, is making the case that a "new paradigm of 'fundamental crypto investing'" has arrived because agentic finance, in which AI agents transact and manage financial activity autonomously, will be built on top of blockchains. In a report released Thursday, the firm argued that the blockchain industry has spent fifteen years developing infrastructure that fits an agentic environment: "always-on, programmable financial infrastructure where assets, ownership and settlement can co-exist" in a converging financial system.

Bloomberg reported that crypto tokens and related stocks gained following the publication of the report. Citrini's earlier research on the theme points to Hyperliquid as evidence of the shift, arguing that the market is rewarding projects on fundamentals rather than speculation. That framing underpins the firm's broader view that crypto valuation should increasingly be assessed on operating and infrastructure merits.

The thesis is not universally accepted. Commentary surfaced in the publisher's own coverage characterizes Citrini's argument as a pitch, and analysts have debated whether agentic AI will create durable demand for tokens. Related industry commentary has argued that AI agents will need to pay in cryptocurrency to record transactions on a blockchain, which would create demand, though that remains a forward-looking claim. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has separately described the company's push toward an "everything exchange" combining crypto, stocks, commodities and prediction markets, consistent with the convergence Citrini describes.

Investors should treat the report as a research-driven thesis rather than an established market outcome. Its near-term relevance lies in the price reaction it prompted and in whether agentic payment and settlement use cases translate into measurable on-chain activity.