Charles Hoskinson Predicts AI Agents Will Drive Majority of Internet Activity by 2035
The founder and CEO of Cardano’s Input Output delivered a keynote at Consensus Miami 2026 on May 6, 2026. Hoskinson said AI agents will handle the majority of searches, commerce and activity on the internet by 2035, disrupting advertising models of major technology companies. He called the development the single best thing to ever happen to cryptocurrencies.
CoinDeskCharles Hoskinson told an audience at Consensus Miami 2026 on May 6, 2026, that agents are becoming more relevant to the internet than humans are. The founder and CEO of Cardano’s Input Output predicted that by 2035 the majority of searches, commerce and activity on the internet will be AI agents instead of people.
Hoskinson said Amazon, Google and Facebook are terrified of the agentic revolution.
He added that companies are investing heavily because all of their business models are going to be disrupted. AI agents do not click ads or have brand preferences, Hoskinson explained, and this threatens the advertising-driven models of platforms like Google, Amazon and Facebook. " he asked his audience.
X402 is the Coinbase-backed protocol that enables AI agents and applications to make direct, programmatic payments over the internet using stablecoins and crypto rails. Hoskinson said AI will increasingly handle tasks such as due diligence, transaction execution and interaction with decentralized finance.
On the positive side for the industry, he said AI agents are the single best thing to ever happen to cryptocurrencies because it simplifies user experience.
The Cardano founder urged users to maintain control of their assets. “You have to own your data. You have to own your identity. You have to own your money,” he said. Users are outsourcing that to custodial wallets, permissioned networks, and third parties that they come to regret trusting when they get their account shut down, Hoskinson added.
He pointed to fragmentation in the crypto ecosystem as a persistent problem. There’s been 11 million tokens issued over the years, Hoskinson said. “That is the user experience in 2026,” he added, questioning whether it was a product people would want to use.
Hoskinson highlighted a shift in traditional finance. He said JPMorgan has moved from restricting crypto-related activity to developing blockchain-based products. “Back when we started JPMorgan was turning people’s bank accounts off and now they have a blockchain product,” he said.
CoinDesk reported that Hoskinson’s forecast echoed similar predictions from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. The keynote formed part of Consensus Miami 2026, where industry leaders gathered to discuss crypto’s mainstream moment.
Transparency
Story details
Related Stories
benzinga.comSpaceX Sets $135 IPO Price, Aims to Raise $75 Billion at $1.75 Trillion Valuation
SpaceX will sell 555,555,555 shares beginning June 12 on Nasdaq. The offering would be the largest in history and could make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.
news.google.comQuantinuum Completes IPO at Valuation Above $17 Billion, Shares Rise 13% on First Day
Quantum computing firm Quantinuum went public with a valuation exceeding $17 billion. Its shares rose 13 percent above the IPO price on the first day of trading.
BenzingaGeorge Santos Bets on His Own State of the Union Attendance on Kalshi
George Santos placed a bet on Kalshi that he would not attend President Trump's February State of the Union address after publicly stating he would be present. Rival platform Polymarket ended its paid influencer contract with Santos over the allegations.