HashKey CEO Xiao Feng: AI and Blockchain Convergence Will Birth the Agent Economy

TLDR:

• HashKey CEO Xiao Feng spoke at the 2026 World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit on April 13.
• AI tokens decode information while blockchain tokens distribute value, yet both share a core structural foundation.
• Xiao Feng described AI as the “brain” and blockchain as the “hands, feet, and bones” of the agent economy.
• Xiao Feng called the AI-blockchain merger not just technological progress but a new leap forward in civilization.

HashKey Group Chairman and CEO Dr. Xiao Feng addressed the 2026 World Internet Conference Asia-Pacific Summit on April 13.

He delivered a keynote titled “When Token Meets Token: The Digital Revolution of Information and Value from First Principles.”

His speech drew attention to the shared conceptual roots of AI and blockchain technology. Together, he argued, these two forces may reshape how machines participate in economic systems.

AI and Blockchain Share a Common Foundation in Tokens

The word “token” carries different meanings across AI and blockchain. In AI, tokens break down language and images into units machines can process.

In blockchain, tokens represent assets and rights in programmable, transferable form. Both, however, point to the same underlying drive: making the world machine-readable and actionable.

Xiao Feng explained that AI tokens focus on helping machines “understand the world.” Blockchain tokens, on the other hand, center on “value distribution” across decentralized networks.

He stated that tokens in the AI field are responsible for decomposing language, images, and other information into machine-understandable units. These two functions operate in separate dimensions but share a structural resemblance.

That shared DNA is what makes their convergence technically relevant. As Xiao Feng put it, blockchain tokens transform assets and rights into digital units that can be confirmed, transferred, and programmed.

This framing positions blockchain not as a financial tool alone but as an infrastructure layer for machine-driven economies.

The distinction between the two token types is not merely academic. It sets the stage for understanding how AI agents could one day transact, incentivize, and coordinate autonomously. That potential sits at the heart of Xiao Feng’s argument at the summit.

Agent Economy Positions Machines as Economic Participants

Xiao Feng described AI as the “brain” in this new framework, driving both decision-making and creation. Blockchain, by contrast, serves as the “hands, feet, and bones.”

He was clear that it provides the incentive mechanisms and constraint frameworks that govern AI behavior in this setup.

When these two systems combine, the result is an agent that can do more than compute. As shared via HashKey’s official channels, Xiao Feng said the convergence “will give birth to an agent economy.”

In this model, machines become active participants in value creation and distribution under rule-based constraints.

Xiao Feng further noted that machines would be able to “not only process information, but also participate in value creation and distribution under the constraints of rules.”

That marks a functional shift from AI as a tool to AI as an economic actor. Blockchain ensures this actor operates within defined and verifiable boundaries.

He closed by framing this convergence as more than a technical milestone. In his words, “this is not only technological progress, but also a new leap in civilization.”

That statement captures the broader ambition behind the agent economy concept — machines that understand the world and engage in its economy on structured terms.

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