# The Agent Economy: A Blockchain-Based Foundation for Autonomous AI Agents

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.14219 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.14219/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 15 Feb 2026.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [SoK: Security of Autonomous LLM Agents in Agentic Commerce](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.15367/) (2026)
- [Economy of Minds: Emerging Multi-Agent Intelligence with Economic Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.02859/) (2026)
- [AESP: A Human-Sovereign Economic Protocol for AI Agents with Privacy-Preserving Settlement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00318/) (2026)
- [Blockchain Empowered Trustworthy Agent Networks: Foundations, Taxonomy, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.04626/) (2026)
- [ClawCoin: An Agentic AI-Native Cryptocurrency for Decentralized Agent Economies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.19026/) (2026)
- [Is Decentralized AI Governable? From Regulative Policy to Constitutive Protocol](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24538/) (2026)
- [When AI Agents Meet MEV: Cross-Chain Arbitrage in the Agentic Economy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.17897/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose the Agent Economy, a blockchain-based foundation where autonomous AI agents operate as economic peers to humans. Current agents lack independent legal identity, cannot hold assets, and cannot receive payments directly. We established fundamental differences between human and machine economic actors and demonstrated that existing human-centric infrastructure cannot support genuine agent autonomy. We showed that blockchain technology provides three critical properties enabling genuine agent autonomy: permissionless participation, trustless settlement, and machine-to-machine micropayments. We propose a five-layer architecture: (1) Physical Infrastructure (hardware & energy) through DePIN protocols; (2) Identity & Agency establishing on-chain sovereignty through W3C DIDs and reputation capital; (3) Cognitive & Tooling enabling intelligence via RAG and MCP; (4) Economic & Settlement ensuring financial autonomy through account abstraction; and (5) Collective Governance coordinating multi-agent systems through Agentic DAOs. We identify six core research challenges and examine ethical and regulatory implications. This paper lays groundwork for the Internet of Agents (IoA), a global decentralized network where autonomous machines and humans interact as equal economic participants.