VeChain CEO Sunny Lu pitches blockchain as the trust layer for AI agents
In brief
- VeChain CEO Sunny Lu said AI agents could drive blockchain's next adoption cycle.
- Always-on AI agents need a new accountability system to earn public trust, Lu argued.
- Lu made the case while discussing VeWorld.ai, an agent-building platform using VeChain's blockchain.
- Animoca's Yat Siu warned in October about relying on agent services users don't control.
Passports for agents
Lu's argument starts with trust. In his view, autonomous agents operating around the clock would require a "new accountability system" to build public trust, and he didn't hedge on what that system should be.
“The perfect solution is a blockchain,” he said.
Lu described a setup where agents carry digital "passports" and operate inside a decentralized credibility system that tracks their reputations (and those of their creators). Under that vision, smart contracts could settle transactions between agents, or between agents and people.
Lu's view comes with a commercial interest attached.
He was talking up VeWorld.ai, which is built on VeChain's chain, so he's got a direct stake in blockchain becoming the place where agents get vetted. VeChain has also pursued adoption through supply-chain tracking, including food traceability projects.
An app store moment for non-developers?
Lu said AI agents could help people turn their expertise into businesses or services, extending software-building to people who don't code. He compared it to mobile app stores, which let individual developers distribute and monetize their work. According to Cointelegraph's report, agent tools could open that market to people whose skills sit outside programming, whether that's professional experience or local knowledge.
His own experiments are personal ones. Lu said he's built an educational agent for his daughter and another to support his mother's daily routine and recovery. He's also set up a virtual employee for an acquaintance's shop in Milan.
The control question
Not every industry voice frames agents purely as an opportunity. In an October interview with Cointelegraph, Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu said crypto traders could run AI agents around the clock, but he warned that users risked relying on services they didn't control.
Lu's pitch is about who vouches for an agent. Siu's warning is about who controls it, and those aren't quite the same problem.
Frequently asked questions
Why does VeChain's CEO think AI agents need blockchain?
Sunny Lu said autonomous AI agents operating around the clock would require a new accountability system to build public trust. He said a blockchain was the perfect solution to that need. Lu made the remarks while discussing VeWorld.ai, an agent-building platform that uses VeChain's blockchain.
How would Sunny Lu's agent reputation system work?
Lu described agents carrying digital passports and operating within a decentralized credibility system that tracks their reputations and those of their creators. In that vision, smart contracts could settle transactions between agents or between agents and people.
