Meet Ama, a market vendor and single mother in Accra, Ghana. She operates a very on the street, carefully counting and saving each cedi. Encouraged by a friend, she tries her hand at DeFi to generate some supplemental income. So she invests her savings with an AI-powered yield optimizer, seduced by claims of outsized returns. What happens if that AI, because of a coding mistake or, even more ominously, a bad actor’s malintent, depletes her purse? That small loss, an inconsequential number to a Wall Street trader, might wipe out all of Ama’s savings and the education and future of her children.
AI Promises, Forgotten People's Problems?
As usual, we’re hearing only about the chimeric promise of AI in DeFi. We are constantly bombarded with stories of improved yields, high-frequency trades and around-the-clock market surveillance. It’s all very exciting. Are we building an inclusive financial system that serves all people? Or are we just catering to the needs of the rich and computer-literate?
That’s what the current DeFi landscape is — a minefield for the average user. As AI agents continue to increase in sophistication, this space has become more difficult to navigate. We’re talking about inscrutable protocols, inaccessible technical language, and now, AI-powered bots arbitrarily placing trades with your capital. The wallet infrastructure? That’s where we need wallet infrastructure; it’s just not ready.
Think about it. The reality today is that most people are still using basic externally owned accounts (EOAs). These are the flip phones of the crypto world – useful, but completely obsolete. They require manual approvals for each transaction. This system may work for trades made by humans, but it utterly fails for AI agents that move at warp speed. Manual approvals are a major choke point. This bogs down the speed and efficiency that AI is supposed to bring.
The bigger issue is security. How would you even monitor an AI agent that’s constantly trading and reallocating funds? It’s a constant effort just to follow how it’s been used with different protocols! With current wallets, you can't. You’re just giving someone the keys to your financial empire and crossing your fingers that they figure it out. And hope, my friends, is not a strategy.
Digital Divide, Exploitation's Open Door
Here’s where the “unintended consequences” angle really gets to the heart of the matter. In countries such as Accra, digital literacy continues to fall short. Lack of access to safe, connected infrastructure further increases the danger. Ama is exploring the newly emergent space of programmable wallets. Beyond that, she’s taking on smart contract code and learning how to navigate the brave new world of on-chain permissions. It’s simply unrealistic.
This digital divide is a ripe opportunity for exploitation. Malicious actors could easily create AI agents designed to target vulnerable users, draining their wallets through sophisticated scams or poorly designed automated strategies. It’s hard to believe a few lines of poorly-written code can wipe out someone’s entire life savings.
Make no mistake, even dollar losses that seem minor in the US can do a crushing blow to lives in Accra. A hundred dollars lost in a DeFi hack might be weeks’ worth of earnings for Ama and her family. This is more than just the black and white of spreadsheets, this is the life of real Colorado citizens.
Remember the Banana Gun exploit? 563 ETH gone in a flash. Or the Aixbt dashboard hack, losing users 55.5 ETH. These aren’t individual problems, they’re precursor symptoms. So what if AI agents are everywhere and increasingly complex? The potential for catastrophic losses increases exponentially.
Programmable Wallets: A Gated Community?
The proposed solution? Programmable wallets. Our goal is to put logic as closely as possible into the hands of the user. This would enable session-based permissions, cryptographic attestation/verification of agent actions, and instant access revocation. Sounds great, right? Who is allowed in this new gated community?
To start, early-stage programmable solutions are expensive, particularly on layer-1 networks. How can Ama afford to use these expensive, complicated tools when she’s just trying to pay her bills? In short, are we building a two-tiered system where only the rich and tech literate can really enjoy the benefits of DeFi?
We require more user-friendly, user-centric security solutions that meet the user where they are – literally and figuratively in terms of economic status. We do need local initiatives that eliminate the knowledge gap. This will enable more people like Ama to engage with DeFi in a safe and confident manner. This might look like community-led workshops, translated educational materials, and simplified wallet user interfaces.
DeFi developers and regulators must work collaboratively to ensure user education is prioritized, and infrastructure is built to hold AI agents accountable. We need to re-architect wallets as the interfaces and operating systems to the autonomous, multi-chain economy. Together, let’s ensure this ongoing transformation is inclusive and equitable to all.
Together, we can help ensure that the AI revolution in DeFi helps uh…everyone. From here on out, we need to support those who support our communities the most.
