Recently, I came across a blockchain project called Kite AI, which is quite interesting. Unlike other chains that revolve around humans, it directly states: 'This chain is built for AI Agents, not for you humans.' This statement sounds quite bold, but if you think about it carefully, it points out a key issue—currently, the entire internet and financial system are essentially designed for people, and AI is like a 'black household' within it, needing human approval for everything.
Let's use human language today and have an in-depth discussion about what Kite really wants to do, how serious the issue of 'infrastructure mismatch' it solves is, and whether the 'AI autonomous economy' it paints can actually be realized.
1. Core Conflict: When AI wants to 'spend money itself,' but finds no space left for it in the world
Have you thought about it? No matter how smart today's AI is, it feels particularly constrained when trying to do something meaningful online—like booking a service, paying a small amount, or calling an API—because it lacks its own 'identity' and 'wallet'; every step requires human approval for confirmation, password input, or facial recognition. It's like equipping your super-smart housekeeper with a Mercedes, but the car keys are always in your hand, and every time he wants to go out to buy groceries, he has to wake you up.
This is what Kite calls 'Infrastructure Mismatch.' Our default economic participants are humans, and all security, verification, and payment processes in the system are designed around the biological unit of 'human.' But now, the number and quality of AI Agents are exploding, and there may be billions of AIs running simultaneously in the future, each wanting to make small decisions and spend small amounts in real-time. Should we require human approval for every transaction? That would be like insisting on dial-up internet in the 5G era.
Kite's idea is straightforward: instead of patching things up, let's build a new city for the AIs. The infrastructure of this city is designed from the ground up for machines.
2. Kite's Three Axes: ID Card, Rule Book, and Spare Change Bag
How does this 'AI economic city' operate? Kite has mainly built three core architectural modules, which we will translate into plain language:
First Axe: Issue 'AI Passport' (Identity System)
In Kite City, every AI Agent is no longer an anonymous string of code. It will receive a unique, cryptographically verifiable 'Digital Passport' (Agent Passport). With this, what the AI has done, where the data comes from, and who provided the service can all be traced back. This solves the most fundamental trust issue: you are dealing with an 'identified' entity, not a ghost that can disappear at any time. With identity, we can talk about responsibility, permissions, and rules.Second Axe: Establish 'Digital Cage' (Programmable Governance)
Having identity alone is not enough; we also need to prevent AI from 'acting out' or being hacked. Kite has designed a fine-grained permission control system, from human users -> AI Agent -> each specific task (Session), with multiple levels.
You can set rules for your AI assistant like this: 'In the coming week, you can spend a maximum of $50, and it can only be used to call the three data APIs: A, B, and C.' These rules are written in code and enforced through cryptography; they are not just verbal agreements. Once the AI behaves abnormally, permissions can be immediately frozen or revoked.This essentially puts a 'Digital Cage' around powerful AI, allowing it to operate freely within safe boundaries.Third Axe: Equip 'Micro Wallet' (Machine-Native Payment)
This is the lifeblood that brings the 'AI economy' to life. Human payment systems (credit cards, mobile payments) have high fees and slow speeds (relative to machine perception), which are fundamentally unsuitable for massive, high-frequency, micro-transactions between machines. Imagine, if AI pays $0.0001 every time it analyzes a piece of data or calls an API, can it settle with Visa? The transaction fees alone would be a loss.
Kite focuses onsuper cheap, super fast micro-payments, using technologies like 'State Channels' to make the cost of a small transaction nearly zero, with confirmation times approaching milliseconds. This opens the door to a new world: AI can pay per API call, can continuously pay for streaming data services, and even several AIs can hire each other to complete tasks. Payments become as natural and unnoticeable as breathing.
3. Ambition and Challenges: Can we really build an 'AI Silicon Valley'?
Kite's blueprint is grand; it aims to become the underlying operating system of the future 'AI Agent Economy.' Currently, it is still in the testing phase, and it is said that there are hundreds of projects tinkering with it, with the ecosystem beginning to sprout. Its token KITE is not just for speculation; it is used to pay for fuel fees, participate in governance, and serve as an entry credential to the ecosystem.
However, this path has many pitfalls:
'Which came first, the chicken or the egg': For the ecosystem to thrive, there must first be enough good services (APIs, data, tools) to attract AI; but for service providers to come, there must first be enough AI users. Kite needs to find a way to break this cycle.
The 'Sword of Damocles' of regulation: Once AI can truly hold and control value, the legal and regulatory bodies will definitely take notice. Whose money is this? If AI 'commits a crime,' who is responsible? Compliance will be a huge topic.
Safety is a matter of life and death: Even the most secure 'Digital Cage' can have vulnerabilities. If hackers control an AI with payment permissions, or if the system itself is breached, the losses could be instantaneous and enormous. Security must be foolproof.
How strong is the real demand?: Currently, the vast majority of AIs are still in the 'assisting humans' stage, far from needing fully autonomous economic behavior as 'strong agents.' Kite may be a bit 'ahead of the curve' and may need to wait for AI applications to catch up with its infrastructure.
Conclusion: An adventure about 'subjectivity'
Ultimately, what Kite AI is doing is not just a technical project, but more like a social experiment. It attempts to officially recognize AI as a new type of 'economic entity' in the digital world and provide it with a complete identity, legal (rules), and financial system.
If it succeeds, we may enter an unprecedented era: AI is no longer just a tool, but a 'digital resident' capable of autonomous collaboration, trading, and creating value. The entire internet interaction model will shift from 'human-machine' dominance to balancing 'human-machine' and 'machine-machine.'
If it fails, it will still serve as a bold pioneer, marking out the minefields and feasible paths for future explorers. Regardless, the direction it points—rebuilding machine infrastructure for a machine society—is worth our serious consideration. Because the future is here, it just hasn't been evenly distributed yet, and projects like Kite are trying to shape that distribution.
