Macro investor and former hedge fund manager Jordi Visser said he recently bought Ether as he sees the “tokenization reality” starting this year, with tokenized assets powering agentic AI payments.

“I don’t think enough people are talking about tokenization and what’s happening,” Visser told Anthony Pompliano on a podcast on Saturday, predicting that tokenization and AI will be intertwined. 

AI agents cannot access banking services or credit, so their primary method of transacting online autonomously will be digital assets such as Ether or stablecoins, which do not require bank accounts, logins or human approval.

“AI agents are with us,” he said. “They need food, and that food is not physical food. It is tokens,” he added. “There’s been a shortage,” which could lead to a supply and demand issue, he continued. 

Autonomous online payments have surged this year, recording more than $24 million in transaction volume over the past month on the Coinbase x402 standard, according to x402.org. 

Meanwhile, crypto protocols are racing to implement agentic AI payment protocols into their blockchains. The Algorand Foundation is one of the more recent, announcing on Saturday support for agentic commerce via a partnership with Google on the AP2 Agentic Payments Protocol. 

Tokenization is needed for price discovery

Ethereum is a major blockchain for real-world asset tokenization, commanding more than 60% market share of tokenized assets, including layer-2 networks, according to RWA.xyz.

He also connected tokenization to a broader need for price discovery in illiquid assets, arguing that tokenization isn’t just a crypto story but a structural necessity for unlocking capital trapped in dormant assets such as private credit, private equity and venture capital. 

Related: Agentic AI commerce may spell the end of internet ads: a16z Crypto

He argued that markets are entering a period where transparency and liquidity are “becoming critical” because a lot of money is stuck in these dormant assets.

“So tokenization is actually needed for no other reason than price discovery for a lot of these things that they’re trapped in.”

Source: YouTube

The head AI macro at 22V Research and a former hedge fund manager, however, cautioned about rising inflation, stating that he wanted to be in gold and silver and has also bought Bitcoin (BTC) as a hedge.

Magazine: Strategy reveals why they would sell BTC, Trump Media posts loss: Hodler’s Digest