Cathie Wood Says Investors Should Watch AI Agents’ Choices of Software, Services, and Financial Networks

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Cathie Wood said that AI agents’ choices of tools, services, and payment networks could become a new indicator for observing demand and the flow of funds.

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Cathie Wood: Investors Should Start Paying Attention To AI Agents for “Where the Money Is Spent”

BlockBeats reports that October 3，ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said that as AI agents (AI Agents) gradually shift from answering questions to acting on users’ behalf to execute tasks and actually spend money, investors may need to shift from “tracking developers” to “tracking AI agents” in the future, observing which software, services, and financial networks they choose.

Wood said at the Robinhood Summit: “We may be talking more and more about ‘tracking agents.’” She believes that if millions of AI agents can independently decide which tools and services to use in the future, their actual activity could become a new indicator for observing technology demand and the flow of funds.

This trend is also driving the development of “Agentic Finance.” SharpLink Co-Chairman CEO and former BlackRock Head of Digital Assets Joseph Chalom said that AI agents need controlled, revocable, and traceable payment permissions—for example, users could authorize an agent to spend at most 500 USD to book a hotel, while retaining the ability to revoke the permission at any time and view transaction records.

Chalom believes that open blockchains such as Ethereum could become financial networks shared by different AI agents, applications, and enterprises, enabling AI agents to make payments without a single bank or technology company acting as an intermediary. BlackRock previously also noted that AI agents may use stablecoins in the future to pay for API calls, data, computing power, and other expenses.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong previously said that Grok is already one of the main clients for “agentic traders” on Coinbase, although specific transaction data was not disclosed. Meanwhile, companies including Stripe, Visa, Google, and OpenAI are also developing AI agent payment solutions, and competition between traditional payment networks and blockchains is accelerating.

Original link https://m.theblockbeats.info/flash/370185

Key points

October 3，ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said that as AI agents shift from answering questions to executing tasks and spending money, investors may need to shift from “tracking developers” to “tracking AI agents.”
Cathie Wood said at the Robinhood Summit: “We may be talking more and more about ‘tracking agents.’”
SharpLink Co-Chairman CEO Joseph Chalom said that AI agents need controlled, revocable, and traceable payment permissions.
Joseph Chalom gave the example that users could authorize an agent to spend at most 500 USD to book a hotel, while retaining the ability to revoke the permission and view transaction records.
Joseph Chalom believes that open blockchains such as Ethereum could become a AI financial network shared by agents, applications, and enterprises.
BlackRock previously noted that AI agents may use stablecoins in the future to pay for API calls, data, computing power, and other expenses.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that Grok is already one of the main clients for “agentic traders” on Coinbase, but did not disclose specific transaction data.
The article says that companies including Stripe, Visa, Google, and OpenAI are developing AI agent payment solutions.

AI-assisted interpretation

The following is analysis, separate from reported facts. Verify important claims independently.

AI Agents do not merely answer questions; they may also choose tools, purchase services, or complete payments on users’ behalf. Cathie Wood’s view is that investors can observe what these agents actually choose in order to understand where technology demand and funds may flow. To enable such payments, users also need to be able to set spending limits, revoke authorization, and review transaction records.

Why it matters to readers

If AI agents begin actually spending money, their choices of software, data, computing power, and payment networks could provide new clues for observing demand. The report also presents traditional payment networks, stablecoins, and open blockchains as potential options, but does not provide actual adoption figures.

Beginners should regard this content as industry participants’ views on future applications, rather than as proven investment results. They can continue to monitor whether relevant payment products launch, whether actual transaction volumes are disclosed, and whether users can control and track agents’ spending.

Risks and unknowns

AI It has not yet been confirmed whether agents can reach a scale of millions and independently choose tools and services.
Whether open blockchains will become AI financial networks shared by agents has not yet been confirmed.
Whether stablecoins will actually be used for payments API The fees for API calls, data, and computing power have not yet been confirmed.

Cathie Wood Says Investors Should Watch AI Agents’ Choices of Software, Services, and Financial Networks

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