The Pomp Podcast: Bitcoin, AI Agents, and the New Toll Road Economy

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

When AI, crypto, and Wall Street start colliding, the biggest winners are rarely the obvious ones. Today we're breaking down Anthony Pompliano's conversation with Jordi Visser about why the next phase of crypto may be driven less by speculation and more by AI agents, tokenization, and financial infrastructure.

SPEAKER_2 (0:24)

Right, and Visser doesn't waste time making his thesis clear. He says, when it comes to crypto, this is 100% about agents for me.

What's interesting is he's seen more traditional investors doing their homework now, finally understanding how quickly this market is changing.

SPEAKER_1 (0:42)

His comparison to the software sector is sharp. He points out the market already lived through a SaaS apocalypse when AI threatened seat-based software.

Now he believes banks are next in line.

SPEAKER_2 (0:56)

Not because banks go to zero, right? But because AI agents will force customers to seek cheaper, faster ways to move money.

In his view, banks will face multiple compression over the next year due to the rise of AI agents. Consumers won't leave money sitting in zero-yield accounts if digital systems can search for better options instantly.

SPEAKER_1 (1:17)

That's where crypto becomes essential.

Visser describes it as the financial guardrail for the agentic economy.

Sang Day Settlement, stable coins, tokenization. He says the middlemen will be hurt, but the consumer wins because fees will be reduced.

SPEAKER_2 (1:35)

And he makes a crucial point about market structure. Paul Graham's warning about Amazon blocking bots and agents shows how important it will be to build systems that are truly agent-friendly.

Companies like Stripe are better positioned than slow-moving institutions because they already think in terms of speed and flexibility.

SPEAKER_1 (1:55)

What about the AI models themselves? Visser notes that some are becoming commoditized, even as the biggest labs fight for scale. He says the best general-purpose model in his benchmark is Opus 5.5, but the real edge belongs to firms with the most compute.

SPEAKER_2 (2:12)

Exactly. For him, the real opportunity isn't picking a single consumer app, it's owning the infrastructure underneath the whole stack. He says, I want to bet on where demand will consistently exceed supply.

That's the toll collectors, the rails, guardrails, and compute layers that every agent must use.

SPEAKER_1 (2:33)

On Bitcoin, he's calm. He says the market is consolidating, not failing. Strong assets often pause before breaking higher, and he sees similar patience needed here.

Meanwhile, major institutions are beginning to treat DeFi and Wall Street as part of the same story. BlackRock and Bloomberg Research are helping move the conversation from contrarian to consensus. The conclusion? Stay focused on the signal.

SPEAKER_2 (2:59)

Build with AI. And remember that crypto may become the toll road of the new economy.