Trump Floats Public AI Ownership as MetaMask Debuts AI Agent DeFi Wallet

Crypto News

President Trump has floated a plan to let ordinary Americans own a direct stake in the artificial intelligence boom, sending investors hunting for the best-positioned names. Speaking on June 5, Trump said his team is studying ways for AI firms to grant the public an ownership interest, and he plans to meet AI executives this week. The administration has already taken stakes in chipmaker Intel alongside several rare earth and quantum companies. The proposal is bullish for AI demand but carries clear risks for existing shareholders, including potential dilution, price caps, or political conditions imposed on businesses currently printing record margins.

The early money is already moving, and it is not moving in one direction. Nvidia, which held roughly 86% of AI data center GPU revenue in late 2025, trades near $208 after a 1% daily gain inside a rising channel off its April low near $164. Yet institutional positioning has turned cautious: the Chaikin Money Flow dropped sharply to -0.16, reversing positive spring readings, while the put-call open interest ratio climbed to about 0.84 from sub-0.80 lows in May. Large funds appear to be trimming exposure and lifting hedges before the rules of any government deal become clear.

On the crypto side, MetaMask unveiled Agent Wallet, a self-custodial wallet that lets AI agents transact across DeFi protocols within user-defined spending and security limits. Users connect the wallet to agent frameworks, including OpenAI Codex, Claude Code, OpenClaw and Hermes, then authorize software agents to operate only inside approved protocol allowlists. The product supports token swaps, perpetual futures, prediction markets and liquidity provision across Ethereum-compatible networks and Hyperliquid. Currently limited to an early access group, Agent Wallet is scheduled for broader availability later this summer as autonomous on-chain trading moves from concept toward mainstream infrastructure.

Security sits at the center of the design. MetaMask said agent-initiated transactions are screened through transaction simulation, threat detection and MEV protection before execution, with anything flagged as malicious or outside predefined rules requiring manual approval. Transactions cleared by these systems carry up to $10,000 in loss protection, an unusual guarantee aimed at building trust in autonomous trading. The controls matter because agents interacting with an AMM or routing orders through a DEX can execute at machine speed, leaving little room for human intervention once a flawed instruction is approved and broadcast to the network.

MetaMask is far from alone in the race to wire AI agents into digital assets. In February, Coinbase introduced Agentic Wallets, enabling AI agents to spend, earn and trade cryptocurrencies while interacting autonomously with on-chain applications. In May, Fireblocks launched its Agentic Payments Suite, a platform built to help AI agents send and receive stablecoin payments through Coinbase's x402 protocol. The flurry of competing products underscores how quickly major blockchain infrastructure providers are positioning for a future in which software agents, rather than humans, initiate a growing share of routine financial activity.

The adoption data suggests the trend is accelerating fast. Recent on-chain research found that wallets using Coinbase's x402 agent payment protocol generated more than 100 million transactions on Base within roughly nine months of launch. The momentum extends well beyond crypto-native firms: in April, Visa launched Intelligent Commerce Connect, allowing AI agents to browse, select and pay for goods on behalf of consumers. Industry executives have grown openly bullish, with Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire predicting that billions of AI agents could eventually transact using cryptocurrency, reshaping how value moves across both digital and traditional payment rails.

Taken together, these developments point to a single dominant narrative this cycle: the convergence of artificial intelligence and digital assets. Washington is exploring how to distribute the upside of AI to the public, while crypto firms build the rails that let autonomous agents hold, spend and trade on-chain value. The same forces stirring caution among equity funds are fueling optimism across altcoin infrastructure plays. Whether this fusion sustains the broader bull market will hinge on execution, security and regulatory clarity, but the structural shift toward agent-driven finance now looks firmly underway.