Discus Fish of Cobo and Samuel Tse of Animoca Brands discuss how AI agents, digital identity and blockchain could change the way money moves.
Updated
November 2, 2026 12:03 PM
The Agentic Economy Summit at CVCF 2026 explores how AI agents and digital assets could shape the future of business and finance. IMAGE: CYBERPORT
For an AI agent to manage money on someone’s behalf, it needs more than the ability to follow instructions. It must be able to establish whom it represents, access funds and transact within agreed limits.
These are among the questions informing the discussion of AI and digital assets at Cyberport Venture Capital Forum (CVCF) 2026. Ahead of the forum, Discus Fish, CEO and Co-founder of Cobo, and Samuel Tse, Head of Investment and Corporate Finance at Animoca Brands, shared their views on how this convergence could develop—and where they see opportunities for businesses.
Discus Fish points to a longstanding challenge: blockchain can be difficult for everyday users to navigate, but AI agents may find it easier to interact with these networks.
“Blockchains have always been hard for ordinary people to use. AI agents may be better users: the chain is fully transparent and every record is traceable, which suits agents well.”
His outlook comes with a qualification. Both the agents and the networks they would use still need to develop.
“Agents aren’t capable enough yet, and chains are still adapting. But once agents truly run on-chain, the number of users and what’s possible will grow by an order of magnitude.”
Discus Fish says blockchain could reshape how financial assets are issued, traded and settled over the next five years. He also notes that institutional adoption has progressed faster than Cobo initially expected, with individual users no longer leading the shift. “Since 2017, we have believed blockchain will become part of the financial infrastructure of the future. We expected individual users to lead, but institutions moved faster.”
For Fish, the next stage involves a broader range of assets and financial clients.
“What gets redefined next is how assets are issued, traded, and settled. As traditional assets like US equities come on-chain, a much wider range of financial clients will follow.”
Samuel Tse, Head of Investment and Corporate Finance at Animoca Brands, focuses on investment opportunities across digital assets and agentic AI. He sees digital identity as essential to allowing AI agents to act on behalf of people while keeping transactions within the permissions they set.
He believes users should set clear rules for what an AI agent can do, allowing it to complete transactions without requiring approval for each one.
“Once agents can prove who they represent, hold digital assets, and move value under clear rules, the economy stops being click-by-click. You set the policy once—who, how much, for what—and the agent transacts inside it.”
He describes applications ranging from everyday payments and transfers to subscriptions, swaps and earning returns on idle funds. “That’s agentic transactions: payments, transfers, subscriptions, swaps, even chasing a better rate on idle cash. Identity is the trust layer. Assets and credentials are the spending authority—always accountable to the human who granted permission.”
In Tse’s account, the human remains the source of that authority. The agent acts within the permissions granted to it.
To illustrate how AI agents, digital identity and digital assets might work together, Tse offers a hypothetical Hong Kong parent's weekday.
“A Hong Kong parent’s weekday: top up the child’s Octopus, book a weekend football slot, translate a school notice for the helper, check weather before pickup, restock milk at the member price, and keep leftover budget earning until tomorrow.”
At present, he says, completing these tasks requires navigating services that often operate separately.
“Today that means many apps that don't talk to each other, and rails that struggle with micro payments.”
His proposed alternative brings the tasks together under instructions established by the user.
“With an agent, they set the rules once and let it decide what to do. Identity unlocks trust and member prices without oversharing. Digital assets fit the money—per-use fees, hard limits, yield until spend.”
For Tse, this combination could create opportunities across payments, merchants, identity providers and digital-asset platforms. He compares the potential scale of agentic commerce to an earlier change in how consumers accessed services.
“The iPhone in 2007 rewired how people buy and use services for 20 years. We are just at the beginning of a similar paradigm shift, with outcomes we can barely imagine.”
Discus Fish and Samuel Tse offer two perspectives on the emerging agentic economy, from the blockchain infrastructure enabling transactions to the digital identity and permissions that allow AI agents to act on people's behalf. At CVCF 2026, these ideas will become part of a wider conversation with the leaders building and investing in this evolving space.
Be part of the conversation. Join industry leaders, founders and investors at CVCF 2026 on 4–5 November and explore the technologies and opportunities shaping the next phase of business.
Exclusive for Ventureport readers: Use code cvcf26vp to access a Full Access Pass for HK$300, subject to confirmation by the organiser.
Keep Reading
Getting to the Moon was the first chapter. Interlune and Astrolab are working on how to operate there.
Updated
April 1, 2026 8:56 AM
Apollo 17 Astronaut's Snapshot of Taurus-Littrow Valley. PHOTO: UNSPLASH
As plans for a long-term human presence on the Moon pick up pace, the focus is shifting from landing there to working there. It is one thing to reach the surface. It is another to build roads, prepare sites and extract materials in a way that can support real activity.
That is where Interlune and Astrolab come in. Interlune is a space resources company. Astrolab builds planetary rovers. The two are now working together to mount Interlune’s lunar digging system onto Astrolab’s Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover. They have completed a concept study and are planning hardware testing in Houston.
The aim is straightforward: combine a rover that can move reliably across the Moon with equipment that can dig, collect and handle lunar soil. Interlune is focused on harvesting natural resources from the Moon, starting with helium-3. To do that at scale, the system cannot sit in one place. It has to move across the surface, handle dust and operate in harsh conditions. "Reliable, autonomous mobility is crucial to the Interlune harvesting system and broader lunar infrastructure development", said Rob Meyerson, co-founder and CEO of Interlune. "Astrolab's FLEX is the right vehicle for the job".
By fitting its digging and collection hardware onto FLEX, Interlune is working toward a mobile system that can gather large amounts of lunar soil and support future construction needs. Beyond helium-3, the same setup could help prepare base sites, level ground, build protective barriers and lay the groundwork for other structures. In simple terms, it is about turning a rover into a working machine for the Moon.
The partnership also connects to Interlune’s work with Vermeer Corporation to develop equipment for continuous, high-volume digging adapted to lunar conditions. Taken together, the goal is to build systems that can support both commercial and government missions — whether that means resource extraction or preparing land for future bases.
For Astrolab, the collaboration strengthens the role of FLEX as more than just a transport vehicle.
"Working with Interlune further differentiates FLEX as the rover of choice for commercial and government Moon missions", said Jaret Matthews, Astrolab founder and CEO. "Interlune's expertise in developing and testing highly specialized regolith simulant will further enhance FLEX's ability to mitigate dust and operate in extreme environments".
Testing will be centered in Houston, which is becoming an important hub for commercial space development. Astrolab was the first company to lease space at the Texas A&M University Space Institute, currently under construction at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Interlune operates the Houston-based Interlune Research Lab, where it creates and tests simulated versions of lunar soil.
That detail matters. Moon dust is fine, abrasive and difficult to manage. Before any hardware flies, it needs to prove it can survive and function in those conditions. By testing their systems in realistic soil simulants, the companies can refine how the rover moves and how the digging system performs.
The Houston lab is partially funded by the Texas Space Commission, reflecting the growing role of regional space initiatives in supporting private companies building beyond Earth. Overall, the collaboration is not about grand promises. It is about integrating hardware, running real tests and taking practical steps toward operating on the Moon.