Animoca Brands President Yat Siu told the Miami Consensus 2026 conference that the Metaverse is dead as a consumer destination, and that 100 billion AI customers will become the primary users of blockchain.
summary
- Yat Siu said the pandemic-era vision of humans living in virtual worlds was wrong, and that the shift was a proof of concept for AI agent infrastructure rather than a consumer product.
- He expects that between 50 and 100 billion artificial intelligence agents will eventually work on the Internet, surpassing the number of humans and transacting independently on blockchain networks.
- Animoca announced a $10 million investment initiative for developers building AI agent applications through its Animoca Minds platform.
Animoca Brands President Yat Siu He said The Miami 2026 consensus on Thursday was that Shift, as envisioned by the cryptocurrency industry during the pandemic, was never designed for humans.
“What we found was that the metaverse, which is based on blockchain, was actually a proof of concept for customers,” he said. “In other words, it was never intended for humans as a primary consumer.”
These statements represent a clear break from Animoca’s previous position. The company has been among the most prominent advocates of the pandemic-era vision of the Metaverse, which posited that users would spend increasing amounts of their social and economic lives in immersive virtual environments.
Seo attributed this misconception to the distorting circumstances of the coronavirus lockdowns, when it seemed that remote digital life would become permanent. “Everyone thought, ‘Oh, we’ll be home, we won’t travel as much anymore,'” he said. “Which, of course, turned out to be quite the opposite.”
What comes next: agent economics
Siu’s new thesis is that blockchain’s most scalable user base will not be humans, but rather autonomous AI agents. “I think the point is that there will be more human customers,” he said, estimating that between 50 and 100 billion customers could eventually operate on the Internet.
According to current population calculations, 10 to 20 workers per person produces between 70 and 140 billion workers globally. “Blockchain technology is the perfect financial system for machines,” Seo said. “We, the humans, were basically guinea pigs.”
The argument centers around a limited practical problem within the scope of cryptocurrencies. Approximately 700 to 800 million people globally own some form of cryptocurrency, however crypto.news reportedfewer than 70 million actively use blockchain applications, largely because the technology is still too complex for average consumers. AI agents do not face this barrier.
They interact directly through code, do not require traditional banking infrastructure, and can transact independently across the chain. As part of the hub, Animoca Announce A $10 million initiative for developers building AI agent applications through its Animoca Minds platform, framing agents as the next major investment class after the Metaverse era ends.
