The digital asset industry has undergone multiple transformations since Bitcoin emerged during the global financial crisis.
From initial coin offerings and NFTs to meme coins and tokenized real-world assets, each cycle has expanded blockchain’s potential while testing its long-term value proposition.
Today, as institutional investors embrace digital assets, stablecoins gain regulatory acceptance, and artificial intelligence begins to intersect with blockchain infrastructure, the conversation is increasingly shifting away from speculation toward real-world financial applications.
In an interview with Invezz, Evan Auyang, Group President at Animoca Brands, shared his outlook on where Web3 stands today, why institutional adoption will define the industry’s next phase, the growing importance of stablecoins and tokenization, how governments are approaching regulation, and why he believes Agentic AI could significantly accelerate blockchain adoption.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
Invezz: Web3 was originally envisioned as a technology that would reshape finance and the internet. Where do you think the industry stands today?
“The premise of all of this… the initial use case for blockchain has been around for a long time.”
Auyang said blockchain’s original purpose was to create an asset built on decentralized trust rather than centralized institutions, with Bitcoin becoming the first successful implementation of that idea during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Since then, the industry has evolved through several innovation cycles.
“We have gone through different cycles. So you got Bitcoin, you got NFTs, you got all cycles, you got meme coins. Now you’re into RWAs… you’re tokenizing pre-existing things.”
He argued that the industry has now returned to focusing on practical applications rather than speculative narratives.
“Now we’re back to the basics… It’s about what the use cases are right now that can allow value to be captured utilising this technology.”
According to Auyang, the strongest use cases today are stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and increasingly, the intersection between blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Invezz: What will define the next chapter of Web3? Is it AI, tokenization, or something else?
“The next chapter is really about institutional adoption, and it’ll be accelerated by AI.”
He believes stablecoins have already moved beyond serving crypto traders and are becoming important infrastructure for cross-border payments, settlements, and tokenized financial markets.
“So when you talk about stablecoin use cases right now, it’s no longer just about crypto trading, it’s about cross-border finance, about tokenization of assets that can be done on chain.”
The primary driver behind institutional interest, he said, is efficiency.
“It’s efficient, and it’s lower cost. When you’re moving basically trillions of dollars of money around, you will look for that cost savings.”
Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, is expected to amplify these trends by automating transactions and enabling software agents to participate directly in financial systems.
“Agents ultimately are going to use the blockchain to find investment opportunities, to facilitate payments, and that will accelerate use cases.”
Invezz: Why do you think blockchain is a natural fit for AI agents?
Auyang argued that autonomous AI systems require an internet-native financial infrastructure.
“An agent cannot use a credit card.”
Instead, he said, programmable money operating on blockchain networks provides a much more suitable mechanism for autonomous software.
“The native language programmable money has to be on chain.”
He expects AI agents to execute transactions continuously, unlike human workers.
“Computers or AI agents act at the speed of their calculations, which is much faster.”
As these systems mature, they could drive broader adoption across financial services while pushing traditional markets toward continuous operation.
“It pushes traditional finance into what I call an increasingly 24/7 market.”
Invezz: What role will institutions play in driving adoption?
Auyang believes the relationship between traditional finance and blockchain has changed dramatically over the past few years.
“There was a time when the financial sector was a little bit skeptical… now you first started with seeing the asset managers… embraced it and started tokenizing their assets.”
As adoption spreads, he expects competitive pressures to become an important catalyst.
“It now is kind of like being at the point where blockchain technology… is pushing the traditional finance industry to evolve.”
Rather than asking whether institutions should embrace blockchain, firms are increasingly asking whether they can afford not to.
“If I’m slower than the other guy, am I going to be left behind?”
Invezz: Will institutional adoption expand beyond the United States?
While much of the market’s attention has focused on the United States, Auyang said Asia has already been moving aggressively to develop digital asset infrastructure.
He pointed to Hong Kong’s regulatory efforts, alongside initiatives in Singapore, Japan, and the UAE.
“Hong Kong has actually been pretty forward with this as well.”
According to him, many governments are now pursuing regulated stablecoins because they want to preserve monetary sovereignty as more financial assets become tokenized.
“Countries cannot afford to have complete dollarization with the financial system because they lose their monetary policy independence.”
He believes this explains why several jurisdictions are actively developing non-dollar stablecoins.
“You see all the domiciles actually going after the non-dollar stablecoin.”
Beyond monetary sovereignty, geopolitical considerations are also influencing policy decisions.
“You need both of these things to maintain that sovereignty. And in the current world of geopolitics right now, you want both.”
Invezz: How do you see regulation evolving?
Although regulatory progress has varied across jurisdictions, Auyang expects every major financial centre to continue building digital asset frameworks.
“You can basically expect every credible capital market will be working on this.”
He said regulation is essential for connecting blockchain-based finance with traditional financial systems.
“The blockchain side of it needs to have regulations as well.”
Institutional capital, he argued, will only flow into digital assets at scale if regulated financial infrastructure exists alongside technological innovation.
Inveez: How do you envision Agentic AI changing financial services?
Auyang expects users to eventually rely on multiple specialized AI agents rather than a single universal assistant.
“We believe that there will be multiple agents per user.”
Some agents may manage travel, others investments, payments, or household finances, with higher-level orchestration coordinating their activities.
“You will want somebody who is like a chief of staff doing this stuff for you.”
These systems would increasingly transact with each other autonomously.
“If there’s a travel agent, it will email your travel agent to transact.”
Blockchain-based payments become important because AI agents require programmable financial rails rather than traditional payment methods.
Invezz: What are the biggest use cases for Agentic AI?
According to Auyang, autonomous AI could reshape three major areas of personal finance.
He identified payments, investing, and lending as the biggest opportunities.
“Three things… payments… investing… and lending.”
Investment automation may ultimately become one of the most significant use cases because AI can continuously analyze markets and execute strategies according to user-defined risk parameters.
“Agentic investing is actually something that is already happening… but it’s only for early adopters now.”
Rather than replacing investors, AI agents could democratize sophisticated investment strategies that were previously available only to professional traders.
Invezz: What still needs to happen before this vision becomes mainstream?
Despite his optimism, Auyang acknowledged that widespread adoption will depend on both technology and regulation.
Trust remains one of the biggest hurdles.
“It’s really about technology.”
Successful products, regulatory clarity, and institutional participation will gradually build confidence among consumers, much like other financial innovations have done previously.
“Once there is value, then people walk into it.”
He also pointed to decentralized identity as a missing piece of the ecosystem.
“The only thing that you need right now… is decentralized identity.”
Looking ahead, he expects progress to be gradual before accelerating rapidly once compelling products reach the market.
“It’ll start like this… and then the adoption curve goes up very quickly.”
For Auyang, Web3’s future is increasingly less about speculative assets and more about becoming the financial infrastructure powering institutional markets, programmable money, and eventually autonomous AI-driven commerce.
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