Tom Lee Warns: AI Could Abandon Humans, Crypto Might Be The Only Safeguard

Fundstrat's Tom Lee believes that AI agents could potentially cut humans out of all economic activity entirely, and that crypto may be the only thing that stops them.

Lee made this assertion during a Fundstrat webinar, where he argued that as AI becomes capable enough to innovate faster by communicating exclusively with other agents, it may find humans more of an obstacle than a participant. 'They might even decide to close humans entirely from communications,' Lee said. He believes that programmable blockchain transactions are the only tool that can keep humans in the loop once autonomous agents start making economic decisions at machine speed.

According to Lee, traditional payment rails cannot handle an agent economy because they were built around four functions: trust, proof of funds, lending, and tax collection, all designed for human counterparties. AI agents need two things that banks cannot provide: programmable money that acts as code and micropayments at fractions of a cent, which crypto handles natively.

The shift ahead will likely follow the same path as stablecoins and perpetual futures contracts, both initially dismissed but now embedded in mainstream finance. Lee expects AI agent payments to become widespread in less than five years.