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Agentic AI And Blockchain: The New Frontier For Business

Agentic AI And Blockchain: The New Frontier For Business

Forbes2 days ago
Frederik Gregaard, CEO, Cardano Foundation. Navigating blockchain's impact on global finance & governance.
Henry Ford once said, 'Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.' That was true when addressing popularizing and advancing the adoption of the motor vehicle. It's just as true for modern enterprises today as they get ready for the artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain evolution.
As the CEO of the Cardano Foundation, I spend a lot of my time invested in the world of technology, and I see a sea change coming from this rapidly evolving digital landscape. Right now, AI and blockchain technology are converging in ways that will likely reshape enterprise operations and public services. Combining agentic AI with blockchain technology constitutes a massive leap forward for business technology that is shaping businesses of the future. I believe it represents the next phase of decentralized intelligence, where autonomous AI agents operate within a trustless, verifiable framework.
While this terminology can sound complex to those who are unfamiliar, this article aims to simplify this technology and what business leaders should understand regarding what lies ahead.
Agentic AI And Blockchain: Why It Matters
If you've played around with any AI model or program, you might be concerned with its shortcomings, including how it needs a lot of human intervention to make it work or to refine its processes.
That's changing. As the technology evolves and is improved, something more autonomous known as agentic AI is emerging. Unlike the publicly used AI systems you might be familiar with, agentic AI doesn't need human 'hand-holding.' Instead, these AI systems can make decisions, execute transactions and interact with other digital entities without needing continuous human oversight.
This shift presents enormous opportunities, but it also raises important challenges. As AI becomes independent, how do we ensure its actions are trustworthy? How can businesses and regulators verify AI-driven outcomes?
This is where blockchain is becoming more involved. Its transparency, security and verifiability can help ensure agentic AI operates within a fair, auditable and decentralized framework. Blockchain provides an immutable ledger where AI actions are recorded transparently, ensuring that AI-generated outcomes can be audited, reducing the risk of bias or manipulation. In industries where compliance is nonnegotiable—such as finance, healthcare and supply chain management—this level of accountability is essential.
As governments and enterprises increasingly need assurance that AI decisions adhere to legal and ethical guidelines, regulatory compliance is another key factor. With audit trails, organizations can confidently deploy AI while remaining compliant with industry regulations.
One example of this in practice is the Masumi network, developed with NMKR and the Serviceplan Group on the Cardano blockchain. It demonstrates how AI agents can interact, collaborate and execute smart contracts autonomously while maintaining traceability and accountability—an approach that may point to how agentic systems could be deployed responsibly at scale.
Other Real-World Applications
The integration of agentic AI and blockchain is not just a theory—it's already being applied across industries. Divergent sectors are currently using this fusion for some incredible real-world advances, including:
• Financial Services: In the world of finance, AI-driven risk assessment tools and trading algorithms are leveraging blockchain for secure recordkeeping and enhanced transparency.
• Supply Chain Management: AI is optimizing logistics while using blockchain to verify product authenticity and prevent counterfeiting.
• Healthcare: AI-powered diagnostics can improve patient outcomes, while blockchain ensures that medical data remains secure and tamper-proof.
These are just a few examples, but by no means the only ones. The nature of blockchain ensures that AI can continue to promote and foster decentralized collaboration—essential for organizations and systems based globally. While AI systems today often operate in silos, controlled by a handful of large organizations, blockchain integration can help AI agents interact securely across different industries and platforms, removing the need for centralized intermediaries and unlocking new possibilities for automation and efficiency.
For businesses using AI-driven services, blockchain can also unlock new monetization models. Smart contracts enable AI agents to receive direct, transparent compensation for their work, addressing long-standing challenges around fair rewards and incentivizing ongoing innovation.
As AI becomes a larger part of everyday life, its benefits must be distributed fairly rather than concentrated in the hands of a few corporations. Blockchain provides a decentralized foundation for AI services, ensuring accessibility, fairness and transparency.
Challenges And Considerations
While the benefits of agentic AI and blockchain are promising, this doesn't mean the combination is without challenges.
One of the most immediate? The tension between agility and assurance. While agentic AI systems are designed to operate at speed, making autonomous decisions in dynamic environments, blockchain is designed to ensure transparency, security and verifiability, often through mechanisms that deliberately slow processes to ensure trust. Aligning these different operating models requires thoughtful system design to balance responsiveness and reliability.
Equally pressing are the questions of accountability and regulation. As AI agents begin to initiate transactions, execute contracts or make decisions independently, organizations must consider how those actions will be governed and reviewed. In highly regulated industries, systems must be explainable. Regulators will expect clear audit trails and mechanisms to assign responsibility, particularly when autonomous systems operate without direct human oversight. The absence of established legal frameworks in this space heightens the need for proactive governance.
These are critical considerations for any organization exploring the intersection of AI and blockchain. As with any technology, adoption depends not just on what is possible, but on what is responsible, scalable and aligned with long-term strategic goals.
The Future Of Agentic AI And Blockchain
The integration of agentic AI with blockchain is not just about keeping pace with technology—it reflects a broader shift toward systems that are more autonomous, accountable and resilient. For organizations, exploring this intersection isn't about chasing trends, but about preparing for a future in which digital agents will increasingly operate with minimal human oversight.
As we look ahead, the collaboration between AI and blockchain could play a key role in shaping more transparent, compliant and trustworthy systems across industries, but the path forward requires addressing key challenges. For businesses exploring the potential of agentic AI on blockchain, integration must be done thoughtfully, responsibly and with an eye toward long-term value.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
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