The Breakdown Crypto, AI and the Permanent Underclass | The Breakdown
Feb 17, 2026
Daniel Shapiro, Blockworks Research analyst who studies crypto and AI, breaks down how primitives could reshape identity, payments, privacy, and on‑chain agents. Short takes on tokenized compute, agent protocols, and what infrastructure needs to enable a killer use case. A brisk tour of the tech that might reroute value in an AI-driven world.
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Primitives Drove Historic ETH Rises
- On-chain primitives like liquidity mining and ERC-721s materially drove ETH's price surges.
- Recognizing reusable primitives early could have produced outsized returns during past cycles.
Which AI Primitives Are Actually New?
- AI-related crypto efforts cluster around tokenized compute, storage, and bandwidth primitives.
- Only storage (e.g., Filecoin) currently resembles a true new primitive via verifiable storage proofs.
Agents Could Bridge Humans And Chains
- Autonomous AI agents (like OpenClaw) hint at a future where agents mediate humans and immutable chains.
- Such agents could be critical for mainstream on-chain adoption if they become trustworthy and user-friendly.