Fan Wenzhong, Executive Director of the China Financial Society: We are at a moment when money shops and bill houses are transitioning to modern banking, and the decentralized intelligent agent economy will reshape the future

ChainCatcher reported live that Fan Wenzhong, Executive Director of the Chinese Financial Society and former Chairman of Beijing Financial Holdings Group, delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. He pointed out that we are currently at a historical turning point similar to the transition from pawnshops to modern banking, where AI is an advanced productive force in the physical world, and Web3 represents a new type of production relationship in the digital world. The integration of the two will give rise to a Decentralized Agent Economy (DAE).

He analyzed that AI Agents have execution capabilities but lack independent identity, accounts, and trust mechanisms, while Web3 addresses these pain points through smart contracts, on-chain identities, and programmable currencies; conversely, AI Agents significantly lower the barriers to using Web3. He proposed that DAE has four major characteristics: agent sovereignty and 24/7 operation, high-frequency atomic exchanges, a collaboration mechanism based on technological trust rather than moral or legal frameworks, and the organizational evolution from companies to DAOs and then to Decentralized AI Companies (DACs).

He warned that this transformation will impact the labor market, with white-collar workers being replaced before blue-collar workers. AI quantitative funds have already achieved returns far exceeding those of retail investors, and he suggested that the government proactively advance social security reforms. Finally, he recommended that Hong Kong develop a self-controllable high-performance public chain, pilot limited digital persona registrations, attract Web3+AI composite talents, establish a digital finance industry fund, and promote collaborative innovation between the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin and digital renminbi.