What happens when AI agents get paid in Bitcoin?

In this episode, I sit down with John Ely, our Chief Innovation Officer at Block Rewards, for his second appearance on the podcast. John is a technologist with a sharp eye for where Bitcoin, AI, and the future of work intersect.

We get into the explosion of AI agents and what it means to embed reasoning, logic, and even payments into software. John shares how AI is already reshaping our own company, his thoughts on why Bitcoin is the ultimate money for autonomous agents, and why he believes we’re on the verge of seeing AI create timeless works of art.

Timestamps:

[00:00 ] Introduction

[04:45 ] How Tesla’s autonomous car shows where AI is headed

[07:01 ] What AI agents are and how they’re already used in business

[11:00 ] Michael Saylor’s use of deep research to create new financial products

[13:55 ] Reflections on early tech and how AI feels like the next big shift

[16:00 ] How coding agents plan, reason, and evaluate their own work

[18:20 ] Why every company is becoming an AI company

[23:00 ] Alpha Go, the God move, and what it revealed about AI creativity

[26:00 ] What an agentic workforce could look like and how agents might be paid

[31:00 ] The synergy between AI productivity and Bitcoin as sound money

[35:00 ] Why white collar work is more vulnerable to AI than blue collar work

[37:00 ] Bold prediction that AI will create a timeless work of art soon

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Resources Mentioned:

The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth | Book or Audiobook

Deep Research | Website

Claude (Anthropic AI Tool) | Website

Y Combinator | Website

Coinbase’s C402 Protocol | Website

Lightning Labs' L402 Protocol | Website

Movie: AlphaGo

Learn more from John by following him on X.

Find more from Scott:

Scott Dedels | X

Block Rewards | Instagram

Block Rewards | YouTube

Block Rewards | TikTok

Block Rewards | Website

Block Rewards | LinkedIn