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

“I don’t think enough people are talking about tokenization and what’s going on,” Visser told Anthony Pompliano on the podcast Saturday, predicting that tokenization and artificial intelligence will be linked.

AI agents do not have access to banking or credit services, so their primary method for autonomous online transactions will be digital assets such as Ether or stable coins, which do not require bank accounts, logins or human consent.

“Artificial intelligence agents are with us,” he said he said. “They need food, and this food is not physical food. It is symbols,” he added. “There is a shortage,” which could lead to supply and demand issues, he continued.

Autonomous online payments have seen explosive growth this year, recording over $24 million in transaction volume over the past month on Coinbase x402. According to to x402.org.

Meanwhile, cryptographic protocols are there racing implement agentic AI payment protocols for their blockchains. The Algorand Foundation is one of the newer, announcing on Saturday, support for agent trading as part of a partnership with Google under the AP2 Agentic Payments Protocol.

Tokenization is needed for price discovery

Ethereum is the leading blockchain for real-world asset tokenization, with over 60% of the tokenized asset market share, including Layer 2 networks. According to to RWA.xyz.

He also linked tokenization to the broader need for price discovery of illiquid assets, arguing that tokenization is not just a history of cryptocurrencies, but a structural necessity to unlock capital tied up in dormant assets such as private credit, private equity and venture capital.

Related: Agentic Artificial Intelligence Trading Could Mean the End of Online Advertising: 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 really only needed because of price discovery for a lot of the things that they’re trapped in.”

Source: YouTube

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

Warehouse: Strategy Reveals Why They Would Sell BTC, Trump Media Reports Loss: Hodler’s Digest