Talking Tokens
Talking Tokens
August 18, 2026·40:19

Your Next Portfolio Manager Could Be an AI Agent

In today's episode of Talking Tokens, Jacquelyn sits down with Rishin Sharma, Head of AI Growth at the Solana Foundation, to explore how AI agents could reshape payments, commerce, and financial markets and why Solana is positioning itself as financial infrastructure for the emerging agentic economy. Rishin breaks down how agentic payments work today, how pay.sh enables AI systems like ChatGPT and Claude to pay for services using stablecoins, and why checkout could eventually disappear into AI interfaces. They also explore the next frontier of agentic trading, from AI-assisted investing and personalized financial coaching to the possibility of having a portfolio manager in your pocket. Plus, Rishin discusses Solana's role in open, permissionless finance, the future of open-source AI, and what could emerge as AI, stablecoins, and blockchains converge.

Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 00:36 What is overhyped in AI?  02:28 Solana's role in the Agentic Economy 06:26 Getting started with Agentic Payments  07:48 Strategic collaboration with Google Cloud 11:08 Merchant adoption on the platform 14:50 The future vision of the agentic economy 17:17 The future of commerce: Checkouts without human intervention? 23:54 Agentic Trading: AI as a financial advisor and strategist 29:39 The open-source AI dilemma: Capitalism vs. Geopolitics 34:24 Integration of stablecoins in AI: Expectations for the next 12 months 39:18 Final advice and vision for builders in the sector

New episodes every week  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0LOgWxIQ0NnNUD5eXsSuoZ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-tokens/id1743669141

Follow us  Jacquelyn on X: /jacqmelinek  Talking Tokens on X: /_talkingtokens  Talking Tokens on Instagram: /_talkingtokens

Follow Rishin Sharma https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishinsharma

This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign between Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast, diving into founders' journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying newsletter on www.stratamedia.co/token-relations/solana

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anchorage Digital, America's first federally chartered digital asset bank and provider of regulated stablecoin issuance. To find out more, visit anchorage.com

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only. Views shared are opinions, not financial advice. The host or guests may have financial interests in the discussed content.

JM
Jacquelyn Melinek

Your Next Portfolio Manager Could Be an AI Agent

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