Why Enterprises & Institutions Need to Start Using Agents

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1. 0:00

   hello everyone my name is Mark me um I am the uh head of partner development VC and investment relations here at near Foundation I don't really probably need to really explain what near is since you probably have four hours of listening that here today so I think we'll we'll get into today's topic um of why Enterprises and institutions need to start using agents right I think on today's you know simple chat we have two

2. 0:24

   very different types of companies and so maybe we'll we we'll start and let them introduce and kind of their background as well as their company itself maybe we'll start with wer yeah um it's nice meeting you guys my name is wer um I'm a community lead at hash um for those of you who's not familiar with hash we are our venture capital for that is focused on on web 3 um and we are based in San Francisco so uh Bangalore Singapore and

3. 0:49

   now we're like um expanding to ababi and um my role at hash I uh as a community lead um I do connect the dots between the portfolio companies so that they can create synergies within um within our umbrella and um try to create good Partnerships for um our portfolio companies in in the meantime hey everyone my name is Bango alash I'm the head of strategic Partnerships at bito um what does that mean that means everything high high Roi high impact um engagements for our

4. 1:22

   business verticals um and of course for those of you who are not familiar with bitgo uh biggo is probably the largest custodian um independent qualified custodian in the world we have over hundred billion do um in assets under custody um we offer wallet infrastructure custody U staking trading and settlement out of our um Cold Storage um you know today we support over 30 l1s um including near I might add um um 1,200 tokens um and Counting

5. 1:54

   um Innovation doesn't stop at bitgo and the most two recent tokens we supported are OAS is which is the gamei chain and um bit tensor um towel so we're really souped about the AI space and supporting it from an infrastructure space happy to be here awesome uh glad you added that point that near is also integrated I think otherwise I don't think you'd be speaking here today um just getting on

6. 2:18

   that but uh realistically I think one thing that made me realize while you guys were describing your your companies is the fact that I didn't know how large and Global you know I forgot how large in global hash was right and and just you know I think we're pretty lucky today to have basically two leads from two entities at basically you know one of the largest Korean VC funds as well as P Global as well so what's your guys'

7. 2:41

   take in terms of I guess um you know within the AI agents right what what excites you the most I think that word has been really thrown around a lot in the last few uh few months and everyone says agent this agent that agent token this agent token that and so would love for for you guys to really talk about what you guys are excited about and what yours are seeing so maybe we'll start with mang yeah outside of managing my e

8. 3:05

   Denver calendar um I think um you know the two areas are really C about one is really improving the user experience in web 3 and what AI agents can do for that and then I come from a finance background so agent five so sorry I'm using it but agent f um which is really just seeing AI agents um integrated into defi um sort of like an intelligent L over the global flow of value and you know driving AI use cases around trading strategies liquidity management

9. 3:38

   portfolio management okay um for me I guess I you know just put it in a simple term I think composability of the AI agent with is probably the most exciting part um I mean it's been a while that we've been using a lot of um llm services like open Ai and fod and stuff like that um so they basically it changed how we interact with information right um like our ability like in throughout human history our ability really came from information collection to information

10. 4:09

    processing and now in this era like in information processing is already been changed through AI so um you know what implies in this is that like you know I think I see a lot of AI agents being built being able to execute like certain actions above the information processing um so that means that would allow me to do like trade or like book a calendar or anything um you know it's something that Siri has been doing but in so much more

11. 4:39

    seamless and in intelligent manner um so you know I think that would change our digital interactions throughout the DAT um and you know why should I not be excited about that so um I I think what both of you guys are also saying is the fact that we're still very early right um and and what I kind of compare this to is I don't know if you guys play video games or not but you know before

12. 5:02

    we had like Nintendo and if you compare that to what computer games are now like it's completely like not even comparable right and and I think that's similar to kind of where we are now is we're testing these points and these ideas for agents you know low hang fruit being easy transactions trades um you know scraping socials for for what Hot Topic is something that you really want to learn more about or invest in or really jump on right and so I think it's always

13. 5:33

    the first phase of having initial Tech and in this case agents to really you know do that lwh hang fruit but then we use it so uh we use that word so widely that we we think we're already there but in reality I think it's still very much in the early stages um both of your guys' companies are are really two completely different Realms one being more Mester one being more of an in

14. 5:54

    institutional service provider I guess how do you guys see agents AI agents really changing your guys' day-to-day or or kind of what you guys expect in the next 5 to 10 years um for me I think just day-to-day operations is rather easy um you know just trans like you know uh translating a document to different languages has always been quite an issue because we're um we have very Global officers with different linguistic capabilities within within the team um and I think you know the

15. 6:26

    advance of AI agents kind of made it some much better in terms of communications um another aspect of that is probably doing the research right um so we used to have a lot of Inns just doing the research and to follow with the trend um given that this crypto Market has crazy hacktic speed um of having the new trend new narrative the mem coin was crazy um now with AI agent I think it's much easier um if I just set the right parameter for that um

16. 6:57

    so-called Alpha Gathering through AI agents um it's not just confined to uh VCS I think it would apply to a lot of retail users um and day day-to-day like crypto Traders as well in the coming days um yeah and I think um not implemented right now um and not sure if we're going to plan for that but uh you know if you you know Bridgewater by Ray Delio um in his book he said even back in like 1990s

17. 7:28

    and early 2000s he used computer algorithms to make decisions and to make more rational decisions in the market um and now that AI agents are being actively being discussed to get into the market and do like more instantaneous trading um I think you would have potential to make some of the important decisions that we don't want our emotions or fear to be in infiltrated and kind of Tainted um the decision so that should be the some of the part that would quite be exciting to explore in

18. 7:58

    the future sounds a bit scary of uh but um and and just last point is are you guys already utilizing that within your day-to-day now or not not really yeah no but it's just um you know possibilities as AI agents um you know gets developed and more private so that we don't fear this decision does not affect any like Market manipulations or anything fair enough fair enough okay yeah you know very similar um early days so we're exploring it but you know any data flow that I mean any processor that

19. 8:31

    is data intensive is definitely areas where we think um AI agents can play a role so whether it's streamlining you know HR processes or financial planning um you know sales campaigns that sort of a thing or understanding you know what's going on in the market um or areas like high level I think and then from you know our Core Business on the custody side you know maybe um use cases around wallet security um risk management um for or trading platform are some of the

20. 9:03

    areas we think that you know agentic um um you know AI agents can sort of like come in uh but again still very early days but um we're fully um supportive of it so so you know knowing that it's quite early and knowing that it's constantly changing how are you guys staying on top of it and how do you view like you know if if I'm not reading news for basically a week I feel like I'm

21. 9:28

    already out of the no right like like forgot about a new large language model or or a new foundational model that is now better and cheaper and you know things like that like guess are you guys actually looking at it a lot and keep making sure you keep up on the data and the updates because I think it is difficult we're we're plugged into the the conversations right you know I'm here we have a good relationship with

22. 9:52

    with near um and um we we have a ecosystem fund that um you know talks to a number of folks were building in the space and so we're definitely staying a tune and a breast of um developments in the space and you need to do that if you want to remain competitive if you want to um optimize your business processes and of course there's the other side which we haven't really touched on but the ethical considerations around um Ai

23. 10:17

    and how um we as good um um uh I guess uh good actors of their Steward um want to make sure that we're aligned from um an ethical perspective perspective as well I think that's a that's the point I was trying to get uh mang to really highlight is that I think if you don't innovate and you don't actually follow along I mean you're you're you're kind of screwed in a way right you're going

24. 10:41

    to be left back and and and not be able to catch up um so I guess rooster like I guess is this something that's that you guys prioritize or or how do you stay stay on top of it from a fund perspective investor perspective I mean um I know there's a a strong narrative between crypto and AI um but I I think as an asset class um it is still there has to be some of the amendment um

25. 11:05

    within the business models of how Ai and crypto should be made um we're we're excited about um how things are being integrated and we're excited about like people being incentivized through developing this open-source llm models and and AI infrastructures um but when it comes to like investment decisions on on specific tokens um you know there has to be sort of um a value C process for that um and you it's also my personal opinion where

26. 11:34

    I think for a lot of AI crypto projects um I like the initiator and I like the spirit um but currently there's one lacking part which is the AI products creating revenues um and that because it is missing now know the the tokens are just being said as mere meme tokens that are being constantly being printed out um but the intention is there for for the development through for the um Ai and crypto um so we're looking very close to how we can improve this

27. 12:06

    space um we're also working with um like small and large institutions on um you know how to make their product better with integration with llm products okay um but yeah um yeah so we're we're looking into a lot a lot a lot of different aspects and different sides um but genuinely excited um about the integration I think it's kind of funny you you highlight the the RW that normally people in blockchain don't like to talk about which is revenue um but uh

28. 12:38

    I think you're right I mean that's a direction in order for long-term sustainability long-term growth and really adoption that's the proof point right um but you know being here and seeing the vision you know every time I talk to Ilia I always you know I always feel really you know feel his passion and motivation and and kind of what we're really talking about in terms of user owned AI right the future where you're not you control kind of your own data and have a decision in it right now we're all scrolling through Instagram

29. 13:04

    Facebook and they have all of our data right we're not paying for these Services they basically own us and they know that but now if you actually see the next stage if there's actually agents built on top of that data it's mind-blowingly scary right and so what are your guys's thoughts in terms of I guess decentralization and how important and how to prioritize that as well as the user own you know user controlled agents this way you have a choice versus

30. 13:29

    is if we don't then it's just like Terminator and Skynet um decentralization is extremely important um we've seen how um centralized AI is essentially abusing the space right now and owning a lot of user data I love the way near AI puts it so I think your mission statement is you know the future is um owned by the user something like that I can't remember um and I think that's key you know if we're going to focus on security if we're going to

31. 14:03

    focus on privacy if we're going to focus on allowing users to do with their data what they want um then we need to align the use cases as they evolve um to um you know the centralized model which is of course the ethos of of crypto um so my thoughts there really is just um we need um folks like yourself and other builders in the space to really Drive um um creating these agents in a very decentralized and open sourced way so so may maybe click a little bit deeper um

32. 14:35

    what do you think it takes to get there right I mean like where are we in that process right because I I I think obviously we know we're early but I guess how close or or what what is needed right and the reason I bring this up is is because I get really excited when I think about you know our our current cross chain execution layer you know we spent all last year near spent all last year really focusing on chain abstraction and and chain signatures and

33. 14:57

    a lot of the team members here have really put in a lot of that effort to ensure that you know you're able to work with different chains and really to take and remove that layer where where chain now doesn't really matter anymore right and and and so to give you some a few examples where you know utilizing change signatur is able to really access um prior other I guess chains and tokens that previously were not able to be swapped or or you know worked with such

34. 15:22

    as you know Ripple Bitcoin you know um um zcash on the first day of uh chain launching or token you know we were able to integrate that within our near intents as well and you know able to do swap so I think that's what excites me in the in this point that look now we have this cross chain execution layer that you're able to go from ideally you know Fiat to anything and then back to Fiat right and thus able to go from the AI piece the AI

35. 15:51

    agent side where at this point you can have and work with those agents to execute whatever you wanted to execute right and and takes that barrier away and so I think that's kind of really the exciting exciting piece um with that said um what types of AI is projects or or you know are you guys looking at are you excited about I don't knower if if there's especially from the investment side that really jumps out at you guys yeah I mean like we just look into the

36. 16:16

    general crypto and AI sector um overall um not to mention any specific projects um but AI agents um you know how their framework is how well is it being integrated to um you know some of to interact with smart contracts um and also we're also looking into um you know something like open source but with a sustainable incentive mechanisms inside um and I think there has to be multiple factors to play inside um like in

37. 16:48

    general I think like decentralization of AI de AI development is a must option to have and not an option um because was like if you think about social media um you know how the big Tech has been maximizing their revenues and profits out of the algorithms has really changed how we interact with information um and just a just imagining how AI will change that again but in such a more private manner kind of scares me um so I think

38. 17:20

    while the big tech companies will continue to build their own own AI models I think um you know a you know decentralized open source projects should really be there um to create an alternative for people to still benefit to technology um and leave out the world so we are doing um you know doing a lot of thorough research on the framework um on the like development of llm models um

39. 17:46

    but yeah like um some of the specific projects I think it's not quite safe to mention it um to to Speed it out okay uh not not a problem yeah definitely wasn't hoping for someone to call out some specific projects but I think you bring up a very interesting point of the change of efficiency and and how things change right and and I I I see that from multiple different points um an example

40. 18:09

    would be you know how how just compute right it you know was so much more extensive prior and maybe it'll slowly go down and just be more of a commodity um when you see uh you know data storage right you know da I think that was a discussion Point were before you know is it all equal is it different and I think you know as as it gets more improved and it's actually utilized it gets more efficient because the demand's there thus you either increase Supply or you improve the supply to make it so that

41. 18:35

    it's more efficient right yeah I'm you know I'm 100% biased here I come from a finance background so for me it's all the use cases in finance um agentic fi um you know on building trading um trading strategies portfolio management risk management so a lot of those AI agents and you know how a better um Financial outcomes whatever um how ever the entities or the Enterprises Define that um is really exciting for me so so I mean we only have about a minute left

42. 19:05

    and I'm trying to think you know typically institutional products don't just don't get that much investment in terms of short you know they're much longer term and maybe larger investment Capital needed right I mean what do you guys see at least within I'll would say this year that that's exciting that that you would want to be created or you know invested upon right what what type of Agents because

43. 19:29

    in my mind I think what we've seen thus far has just been very you know social media related you know or or digging Investments related things like that I guess is there any specific vertical that jumps out that you think you know what I think there's going to be a lot of interest moving forward in that specific point and and this just this idea just jumped out at me so I don't know if you guys have any views I think the closest touch point would be research isn't it for institutions um

44. 19:54

    it's just the easiest access risk-free um for um not sure about how AI agents will be integrated with the actual trading for institutions um since there should be a lot of verticals to be sorted out um in terms of like custody or um you know uh just the mechanics and the safety of the choices that they would make um but yeah I think research translation they are just easiest bits for institutions to get involved I mean the reason I brought that up also is the fact that I know near you know we're

45. 20:24

    really looking for a lot of you know developers to really build out these agents and we have like 50 verticals and use cases that each of them could actually be their own businesses right I think the problem that we're going to see is that a lot of these are not actually um you know the agent issue it's more of the go to market and adoption which just like it's not about chains being faster it's actually what it's at use for why should they use it

46. 20:48

    right so it's pretty interesting yeah the the core of bitos DNA is custody um and security so in light of recent events um we would would probably want to explore how agents can help with earlier detection um RK risk yeah around um you know movements and and changing some patterns or areas where we potentially could enhance uh our current offering to our clients today um but that's the only thing that immediately jumps to mind okay well awesome well I think our time is up so really

47. 21:20

    appreciate you guys being up here as well as everyone else for listening and hopefully enjoying our discussion thank you thank you guys