Gary Yang: AI-Fi Financial Chips and Global Finance After the Openclaw Singularity
- Core Viewpoint: The breakthrough application of the OpenClaw framework, combined with AI and Crypto technologies, is triggering a "singularity" transformation that transcends traditional finance and social governance paradigms. Its disruptive speed and breadth will reshape global industries, financial landscapes, and even the foundations of geopolitics.
- Key Elements:
- Architectural Value of OpenClaw: Its core lies in the "memory layer" (Markdown files), which endows AI Agents with long-term memory and task continuity, forming a seven-layer intelligent framework from infrastructure to application tasks.
- AI-Fi and Financial Chips: AI-driven algorithms can be encapsulated into self-evolving, independently operating "financial chips" via smart contracts. This will completely overturn the logic of traditional quantitative strategies and Wall Street financial products.
- Disruptive Compound Effect: The combination of AI (productive forces) and Crypto (relations of production) generates exponential destructive power, far exceeding the impact of Crypto alone, leading to the potential collapse of traditional finance and social management.
- Global Consensus-less Panic: The pace of technological change far outstrips the understanding and adaptation capabilities of various regions and industries, resulting in severe information asymmetry and plunging the world into a chaotic phase of high-speed development but lacking consensus.
- Singularity Sequence Acceleration: Once the technological tipping point (singularity) is breached, subsequent changes will become more dense and rapid. Most pre-singularity experience and methodologies may become obsolete.
- Geopolitical Restructuring: The openness required by Crypto and the borderless demands of AI development shatter the fragile regulatory consensus between nations, pushing the world into an unprecedented race of speed and reshaping the international order.
Since the outbreak of Openclaw in mid-January, except for the four days at the Hong Kong Consensus conference, I have declined almost all external engagements, including online spaces and 90% of offline meetings, communicating only through code and Agents to face what is arguably the most significant singularity shift in human history to date. Similarly, for this article, I will strive to save time and discuss the current issues in the briefest possible terms, as the time available to each individual after the singularity is extremely limited.
tl;dr
1. The Engineering and Historical Significance of Openclaw
2. AI-Fi and Financial Chips
3. The Disruption of Global Finance and the Collapse of Social Management
4. Consensus-less Panic Caused by Multi-level Information Asymmetry
5. The Sequence of Singularities After the Singularity
6. The Fundamental Shift in Global Geopolitical Foundations
1. The Engineering and Historical Significance of Openclaw
The engineering significance of Openclaw:
The essence of Openclaw is not an intelligent algorithm, but a framework for integrating intelligent tools based on memory files. I've seen many interpretations online, none of which I find precise enough. Here, I summarize it into seven layers:
Layer 1 Infrastructure (Infra): The hardware devices or cloud services, the very bottom of the entire architecture.
Layer 2 Operating System (OS): The operating systems including Linux, iOS, Windows, etc.
Layer 3 Environment (DevOps): The CI/CD layer above the OS, such as GitHub. Deployment specificity is high at this layer.
Layer 4 Skills: The organ layer, representing the AI's brain and limbs—abilities like listening, speaking, reading, writing, and various other capabilities. LLMs are loaded at this layer.
Layer 5 Memory (md): This is the core value of Openclaw and what fundamentally distinguishes it from LLM tools.
Layer 6 Functions/Jobs (Agent): The Agent layer. The key to transitioning from AI tools to managing a one-person company lies in the division of labor among Agents.
Layer 7 Tasks (Apps): The daily task logic and queued tasks for Agents/Bots with different functions.
As stated officially by Openclaw, Markdown memory files are the core value. The simple refinement of the memory layer endows AI Agents with the capability for long-term operations. Remarkably, a few kilobytes of file data can propel such a dramatic singularity shift at this historical juncture.
The historical significance of Openclaw:
From a meso perspective, Openclaw will catalyze an exponential explosion in AI productivity, transforming all global industries. It will no longer be limited to rule-based work like translation, law, design, or coding. Even complex, non-standardized work such as auditing, finance, engineering management, and business management will be rapidly replaced and upgraded. Similarly, with the parallel rapid development of robotics, integration with microcontrollers will easily take over the vast majority of physical labor. From a macro perspective, the singularity triggered by Openclaw will mark the dividing line where human labor transitions to silicon-based labor as the mainstay. In a timeframe faster than we imagine, humanity's position in natural society will be fundamentally altered, and the foundation of civilization will completely enter the next stage.
Returning to the reality of 26Q1, the small 12-bot work cluster we built on Linux has already demonstrated versatility for collaboration across various industries. Simply put, we categorize Agents into three types: one manages collaboration and code, another manages information and thinking, and the third manages business and money. Over the past continuous month or so, like many others, I have been oscillating between excitement and fear. In no time, all business models will be upgraded and disrupted.
2. AI-Fi and Financial Chips
At the Hong Kong conference two weeks ago, I met Mr. Shen, who mentioned an article I wrote three years ago titled "Financial Circuits and Web3 Economic Model Principles." I excitedly told him that what I thought would take 30 years to realize is now something I can start implementing this year with the power of Openclaw.
The principle of financial circuits refers to the rapid iterative development of financial digital derivatives due to the emergence of Web3 and Crypto, akin to the rapid development of electronic components like resistors and capacitors in the 20th century. It's no longer about single functions on the surface but will quickly evolve into complex systemic combinations, forming integrated products similar to circuit boards or even chips, thereby achieving financial effects unattainable by single functions. The financial chip is the ultimate result of this process.
When algorithm components driven by AI can make effective, flexible, and long-term self-evolving decision combinations instantaneously based on massive data, we can encapsulate them via Crypto's Smart Contracts on DeFi into virtual digital chips resembling FPGAs or even microcontrollers, creating a super-intelligent financial digital decision-making entity. Once formed, this digital decision-making entity, the financial chip, will no longer rely on human-intervened decisions. It will achieve a positive balance between the cost of burning Key/Gas and asset profitability, becoming a financial product with independent intelligent production value.
Compared to terms like Web4.0 or DeFi3.0, I believe AI-Fi is a more accurate description. In today's world where AI rapidly drives Agents to form independent working capabilities, our understanding of financial products and the financial industry should undergo a complete qualitative change. The inertial understanding of Wall Street and traditional finance will be completely overturned. Single-algorithm quantitative strategies will be rendered obsolete by history. Winning in financial assets is not just about processing massive data and parameter changes, but more about the evolutionary capability to rapidly adjust and innovate algorithms and strategies. Only super-intelligent financial assets encapsulated by AI Agent + Crypto Smart Contract and AI-Fi can adapt to the financial environment of the next era.
3. The Disruption of Global Finance and the Collapse of Social Management
At the end of last year, in the article "The Outbreak of DeFi 2.0 Under the Disorderly Restructuring of 2026," I mentioned "the waning strength of traditional financial inertial aesthetics and social failure under strong data regulation." Simply put, the single thread of Crypto upgrading digital production relations already poses a significant challenge to the existing environment.
Following Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, also issued a press release on January 19, 2026, confirming that NYSE is developing a tokenized securities platform supporting 24×7 trading and plans to seek SEC approval to advance this service. It can be said that New York's response efficiency and practical implementation in the face of last year's Crypto digital impact remain admirable, far ahead of the hesitant attitudes of all other global entities. Yet, even so, policies and the understanding inertia of the vast majority still struggle to truly adapt to this change.
The terrifying part is that the disruptive power of AI digital productivity upgrades has amplified the撕裂 (tearing) effect of Crypto digital production relations on traditional finance and society by another order of magnitude. If the situation at the end of last year could be described as waning strength and failure, then this year it is complete disruption and collapse. Unlike any historical transformation, the exponential pull brought by AI + Crypto leaves no space or opportunity for dogmatic regression. Go Fast or Go Home.
4. Consensus-less Panic Caused by Multi-level Information Asymmetry
An interesting yet sad point is that in such an environment, everyone is not only constantly switching between FOMO and FUD, but the reasons are also completely different. The vast majority are searching for confidence anchors within the specific narrative they follow, yet they are well aware that it is utterly futile in the face of this AI + Crypto tsunami.
Just like the Hong Kong Consensus conference in early February 2026, it was a conference with no consensus at all: no consensus on bullish/bearish views, no consensus on compliance, no consensus on credit, no consensus on value. The only consensus was that the AI disruption following Openclaw made participants at the Crypto Consensus conference find a misplaced consensus on AI.
Due to the simultaneous occurrence of multi-level, multi-structural剧烈变化 (drastic changes), people in different industries across different countries and regions acquire, understand, digest, and respond to information at completely different speeds. Consequently, the world will enter a phase of超高速发展 (ultra-high-speed development) and complete chaotic lack of consensus in 2026. Due to differences in the pace of technological progress and cultural essence, the consensus-less panic has already affected various financial assets and future expectations in 26Q1. Although analogous, the degree of chaotic energy has completely surpassed that of the 1929 Great Depression and its surrounding period. Furthermore, the disruptive force and speed of AI + Crypto far exceed those of the industrial automation and digitization stages, so the position of gold and safe-haven assets is also completely different from the 20th century. Currently, one must not only consider避险 (seeking refuge) in turbulent times but also the risk of being left behind and unable to catch up if one falls off the wagon even slightly. Solely seeking refuge itself constitutes a significant risk in an environment of exponential disruption.
5. The Sequence of Singularities After the Singularity
On an exponential development curve, what happens once a critical singularity is breached? It must be the arrival of one even more密集的 (dense) singularity after another.
After setting up my first Openclaw Agent on January 20th, one question I asked him was: Assuming I give you a mechanical surgical instrument, could you operate it to perform surgery? My Agent replied that after confirming all external devices, he would need to undergo模拟训练 (simulation training) for a period to install the surgical program driver for himself, after which he could do it.
Beyond the widespread adoption of intelligent robots and mechanical equipment, and the AI-Fi financial chips mentioned in this article, there are undoubtedly too many directions to elaborate on here. As mentioned before, time is limited. I believe the most important thing now is to understand the value of time and our response efficiency to changes within this极其有限 (extremely limited) timeframe. I am not certain if, when the world's development timeline is turned vertical, we can find a response mechanism or methodology to temporarily ride the exponential curve without being thrown off. But at the very least, it is clear that all pre-singularity fixed experiences and绝大部分 (the vast majority) of methodologies will失效 (become obsolete).
6. The Fundamental Shift in Global Geopolitical Foundations
As mentioned in previous articles, global geopolitical conflicts will not unfold along historical experiences as imagined in the clash of civilizations or the traditional Thucydides Trap.
If Crypto Finance and Stablecoin broke the management mechanisms in front of the state apparatus, bringing together some originally opposing forces due to the vastly different value proposition of an open digital economy, then this AI singularity will counter this principle, further tearing open a new rift, leaving the stances of different countries and regions措手不及 (caught off guard),陷入竞争状态 (plunging back into a state of competition) amidst难以管理和接受打破 (difficulty managing and accepting the break).
In other words, the open environment required by Crypto Open Finance, viewed from the same angle, does not satisfy the regulatory governance environments of many countries and regions. Restraining forces had just found some consensus, but the borderless open environment required for AI development quickly shatters this塑料共识 (plastic consensus), entering a强竞争环境 (highly competitive environment) of a race. Moreover, the speed at which distances are拉开 (widened) in this race will be the fastest in history. When countries and regions also face the risk of being left behind and unable to catch up if they fall off, the strength of坚持本质原则 (adhering to fundamental principles) becomes an immense challenge. While bringing命运分叉 (divergent fates) to different groups of people, it will also reshape the new格局 (landscape) of world geopolitics.
Author: Yang Ge Gary
Date: February 24, 2026
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