We propose the Agent Economy, a blockchain-based foundation where autonomous AI agents operate as economic peers to humans. Current agents lack independent legal identity, cannot hold assets, and cannot receive payments directly. We established fundamental differences between human and machine economic actors and demonstrated that existing human-centric infrastructure cannot support genuine agent autonomy. We showed that blockchain technology provides three critical properties enabling genuine agent autonomy: permissionless participation, trustless settlement, and machine-to-machine micropayments. We propose a five-layer architecture: (1) Physical Infrastructure (hardware & energy) through DePIN protocols; (2) Identity & Agency establishing on-chain sovereignty through W3C DIDs and reputation capital; (3) Cognitive & Tooling enabling intelligence via RAG and MCP; (4) Economic & Settlement ensuring financial autonomy through account abstraction; and (5) Collective Governance coordinating multi-agent systems through Agentic DAOs. We identify six core research challenges and examine ethical and regulatory implications. This paper lays groundwork for the Internet of Agents (IoA), a global decentralized network where autonomous machines and humans interact as equal economic participants.

翻译：本文提出“智能体经济”——一种基于区块链的基础架构，使自主人工智能代理能够作为人类的经济对等体运行。当前智能体缺乏独立法律身份，无法持有资产，也无法直接接收支付。我们建立了人类与机器经济行为者的根本差异，并证明现有以人为中心的基础设施无法支持真正的智能体自治。研究表明，区块链技术通过三个关键特性实现真正的智能体自治：无许可参与、去信任结算和机器间微支付。我们提出五层架构体系：（1）通过DePIN协议实现的物理基础设施（硬件与能源）；（2）基于W3C DIDs与声誉资本建立链上主权身份与代理机制；（3）通过RAG与MCP实现智能认知与工具层；（4）借助账户抽象确保金融自主的经济结算层；（5）通过Agentic DAOs协调多智能体系统的集体治理层。本文识别了六大核心研究挑战，并探讨了伦理与监管影响。本研究成果为“智能体互联网”（IoA）奠定理论基础——这是一个全球去中心化网络，自主机器与人类将作为平等的经济参与者进行交互。