A fintech analyst argues the market is underestimating how AI agents and blockchain rails could reshape finance. Near term, he’s constructive on select fintech and crypto-linked names but says investors must respect macro volatility, rate pressure, and regulatory uncertainty.
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Devin Ryan’s core thesis is that the next major upgrade in financial services will come from the combination of AI agents and blockchain rails, and that this shift could create a much larger transaction and infrastructure opportunity for fintechs, brokers, payment firms, and crypto platforms. He frames the current backdrop as messy but navigable: macro is still difficult, AI is changing the competitive landscape quickly, and investors are over-focusing on near-term uncertainty while missing longer-term operating leverage and product expansion. On the AI side, he draws a sharp distinction between today’s mostly back-office AI use cases and the next phase, which he calls “agentic” finance. …
Tactically, this is a defense-first setup: macro volatility and regulatory ambiguity can keep pressure on fintech and crypto-linked names even when the underlying story is improving. Near-term upside likely depends on earnings confirmation and any policy progress that reduces uncertainty.
Over the next few quarters, the base case is gradual product adoption in agentic finance and stablecoin use, with winners emerging from firms that can convert AI features into measurable volume and revenue. The setup improves if transaction activity, institutional adoption, and regulatory clarity all move in the same direction.
Structurally, he sees finance moving toward an always-on, automated stack where AI agents and blockchain infrastructure become core utilities. The long-run winner set should be smaller and more concentrated than today’s crypto universe, with durable value accruing to the networks and platforms that become indispensable rails.
AI agents will be the next major transformation in finance after today’s mostly back-office AI use cases.
He explicitly contrasts current automation with the coming agentic phase that will execute financial tasks for users.
Robinhood could see a large multiplier in transaction volume if AI agents trade and manage portfolios on behalf of users.
He uses Robinhood as the clearest example of how agentic finance could expand trading frequency dramatically.
Blockchain rails are a natural backend for high-speed agents because they support 24/7 settlement and scalable transactions.
He argues agents need infrastructure that can match their speed and constant operation.
How are you feeling after earnings season across the fintech names you cover — what's the vibe on the street?
Devin says he feels okay. He notes it's been incredibly volatile and complex macro backdrop, so companies have been playing defense before offense. He likens it to the Knicks playing great defense — not as fun but wins games. He looks for companies that can come out of the macro moment with better earnings power than people appreciate, trying to disconnect recency bias from the longer-term opportunity.
Is the current crazy volatility similar to the dot-com era or late 2000s, or is it just recency bias?
Devin says it's a great question. He covered investment banks through the financial crisis where you woke up and they weren't all there — that was extreme. COVID was also something new. Today the themes like consumer credit and higher rates have been dealt with before, but what's truly different is AI and the speed of change, which creates a 'cloud of uncertainty' for institutional investors trying to project earnings 3 years out.
What does artificial intelligence look like for the finance industry — is it back-end code generation or forward-facing agentic products?
Devin agrees the interviewer is right that AI has been about back-office automation — support functions, code generation, fraud detection. But the next transformational phase is agentic finance. He says firms like Robinhood, eToro, and Public are launching 'bring your own agent' platforms, but normal people don't have agents yet. Within the next 12 months he expects companies to launch natural language solutions that make it accessible to everyone.
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