Citrini Research has published a report declaring the arrival of a new paradigm in fundamental crypto investing, arguing that agentic finance — in which AI agents conduct financial transactions autonomously — will be built on top of blockchains.

The independent research firm, which counts roughly 260,000 Substack subscribers, identifies a broad set of beneficiaries. They include public companies Robinhood, Coinbase, Bullish, and Securitize; crypto projects ONDO, AAVE, UNI, ETHFI, and PENDLE; the tokens Ether and Solana; stablecoin issuers Circle and Ethena; and the exchanges Hyperliquid, Lighter, and Variational. The crypto projects named span DeFi's main verticals: lending (AAVE), decentralized spot trading via Uniswap (UNI), yield trading (PENDLE), restaking (ETHFI), and tokenized treasuries (ONDO).

At the heart of the thesis is the argument that the traditional financial system — designed to be slow and gated by intermediaries — is ill-suited to a world in which software agents operate continuously across applications. After fifteen years of development, the report contends, blockchain now offers always-on, programmable financial infrastructure in which assets, ownership, and settlement co-exist — a foundation that becomes genuinely useful in an agentic world.

The report says this relevance is reinforced by the tokenization of real-world assets such as treasuries, equities, and credit, alongside a friendlier US regulatory environment. A few days after landmark crypto legislation failed in Congress last month, the SEC granted a five-year exemption allowing qualifying venues to trade tokenized US stocks onchain — blockchain-based representations of shares issued and transferred on public ledgers. Wall Street giants including BlackRock have also announced tokenization efforts.

Evidence of momentum has been accumulating, according to the report. A pivotal moment came during the Iran conflict, when Hyperliquid — a decentralized exchange focused on perpetual futures — became one of the few venues offering around-the-clock derivatives trading tied to crude oil prices over a weekend. Since then, the report notes, real-world asset (RWA) adoption has shifted into higher gear, marking what appears to be an inflection point.

Token Value Depends on Economics, Not Volume

Crucially, the report cautions that rising onchain activity does not automatically translate into higher token prices. Investors, it argues, should evaluate revenue models, fee allocation, and token-holder participation rather than raw transaction volume. The key question has shifted from whether tokenization will be permitted to who captures the economics once these products enter regulated US market structure. How qualifying venues roll out tokenized equities under the exemption, and whether Congress revisits the crypto legislation that failed last month, now rank among the near-term developments to watch.

The report carries notable weight given Citrini's track record. Founder James van Geelen made a name for himself earlier this year with a note titled “The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis,” which imagined AI wiping out white-collar jobs faster than the economy could absorb the shock — a thesis that sent shockwaves through equity markets. In September, van Geelen sold the New York-based firm to semiconductor and AI researcher SemiAnalysis.

Market reaction was immediate. Following the report's release, several of the mentioned cryptocurrencies spiked. DRV, the native token of onchain options and futures exchange Derive, rose more than 20% before falling back, according to CoinGecko.