Alchemy CTO: Blockchain could become the foundation of a national payment system

Blockchain is no longer a technology used only for cryptocurrencies. Today, companies are trying to integrate it into payments, banking services, and even the infrastructure of entire countries. In an interview with Traders Union, Alchemy CTO and COO Guillaume Poncin explained where blockchain can actually be useful, why financial companies need stablecoins, and what role AI agents could play in the financial system.

From Google and Stripe to blockchain

Before joining Alchemy, Guillaume Poncin spent 12 years at Google and later worked on banking and financial products at Stripe. His work with financial infrastructure showed him just how difficult it is for traditional systems to change quickly and operate globally.

Banking infrastructure remains fragmented, while launching new products across different countries requires numerous integrations and intermediaries. Blockchain, by contrast, was built as a global system that operates in real time.

“They bring to financial systems many of the properties the Internet brought to information: open access, interoperability, and rapid innovation.”

Poncin believes that over time, this infrastructure could support not only payments but also investment and trading services.

Who needs blockchain infrastructure

Poncin sees blockchain infrastructure as most directly useful to companies that handle large volumes of payments and settlements every day, rather than to ordinary users. These include banks, fintech companies, payment providers, and large enterprises.

The main benefits are fairly practical: faster settlement, lower costs, and more transparent recordkeeping. This is particularly relevant where traditional financial infrastructure consists of many separate systems.

“It provides a more efficient foundation than the fragmented legacy systems that underpin much of today’s financial infrastructure.”

For end users, however, the underlying technology may remain completely invisible.

Blockchain could reach the level of national payments

Just a few years ago, the idea of using a public blockchain for an entire country’s payment system seemed ambitious, to say the least. But blockchain throughput has improved significantly, and the issue is no longer limited to technological constraints.

Poncin believes banks and other regulated institutions would not disappear under such a model. They would continue to manage customer relationships, conduct checks, and comply with regulatory requirements, while blockchain could serve as the underlying settlement layer.

“The technology is progressing quickly; the remaining work is building the regulatory frameworks, governance models, and integrations needed to connect it with existing financial systems.”

Whether blockchain can become part of national financial infrastructure will therefore depend not only on network performance but also on these conditions.

NFT hype has faded, but the technology remains

Last year, Alchemy acquired HeyMint, a company known for its NFT tools. At the same time, the market for collectible NFTs is far from the peak it reached several years ago.

Poncin explains that the acquisition was primarily about HeyMint’s team and technology. The company’s tools can be used to create and manage onchain assets, with applications extending beyond images and collectible tokens.

“While demand for speculative NFT collectibles has slowed, the ability to establish and verify ownership of unique digital assets remains an important foundation for the onchain economy.”

Such technology can be used for tokenized real-world assets, loyalty programs, ticketing, and digital identity.

Why Web3 games have not gone mainstream

Poncin also has a background in gaming. In his view, one of the main mistakes made by early Web3 games was that developers focused too heavily on tokens and in-game economies.

The games themselves often lagged behind traditional titles in quality, graphics, and gameplay. For mainstream audiences, blockchain technology alone is not a reason to spend time playing a game.

“That makes mainstream adoption difficult: players ultimately want games that are engaging, polished, and fun to play.”

Poncin believes crypto technology can still be useful in gaming, particularly for owning and trading digital items. But it is likely to work best when users do not have to notice the blockchain at all.

AI agents will get their own money

Another area Alchemy sees as promising is AI agents capable of acting independently online and paying for services.

For this purpose, the company built AgentCard. The tool gives an AI agent payment credentials, an email address, a phone number, and a stablecoin wallet.

For individuals, such an agent could theoretically order food, book travel, or manage subscriptions. For businesses, it could handle purchasing, customer support, or account management.

“The important shift is from agents that recommend actions to agents that can complete them safely.”

Poncin expects these systems to develop faster than many people currently anticipate.

But AI should not be given full control

At the same time, Poncin believes the autonomy of AI agents should have clear limits. Users should be able to determine in advance how much an agent can spend, where it can make purchases, and what actions it is allowed to take.

With AgentCard, for example, users can set spending caps and restrict purchases by merchant category or location. Such systems should also maintain a record of who authorized an agent to do what.

“Humans should remain accountable for high-stakes or irreversible decisions, including large transfers, legal commitments, and choices that affect someone’s livelihood.”

Stablecoins will not replace Visa and Mastercard yet

Stablecoins are often viewed as potential competitors to traditional payment networks. But Poncin believes they may end up playing a different role: primarily enabling faster and cheaper settlement, while familiar payment services continue to manage customer relationships.

“In the near term, stablecoins are more likely to become a settlement layer beneath existing financial services.”

Visa and Mastercard, Poncin notes, provide more than just a way to move money. They also offer consumer protections, fraud management, issuer relationships, and broad merchant acceptance.

As a result, some services may eventually be built on stablecoins from the start, while in others stablecoins will operate behind the scenes and remain invisible to users.

Users should not have to understand blockchain

The crypto industry has been talking about bringing in the “next billion users” for years. Poncin believes the biggest obstacle has been an overly complicated user experience.

Seed phrases, gas fees, different networks, and confusing wallets forced people to understand the technology before they could actually use a product.

Smart wallets, sponsored transactions, and applications that handle crypto in the background are now beginning to change that.

“We will know adoption has arrived when users no longer need to think about the underlying technology at all.”

Poncin expects blockchain to follow the same path as the Internet. Most people do not know how network protocols work, but that does not stop them from using email, shopping online, and accessing banking apps every day. In his view, the same should eventually happen with blockchain.