Naja argues that the financial industry's core incentive is broken: exchanges profit from churn, not customer success. Recent launches from Anthropic, Circle, MoonPay, and Gemini signal the rise of agentic finance, but the underlying business model remains unchanged.
The structural conflict is clear: brokerages profit when customers trade, regardless of outcome. In 2025, U.S. market makers paid over $4.9 billion for order flow. Robinhood at its peak relied on more than 75% of its revenue from payment for order flow.
The SEC's elimination of the Pattern Day Trader rule removed friction, encouraging more trading. Studies show 74% to 89% of retail users lose money trading.
Enter the independent AI agent: programmed to trade less, size down, and protect customer portfolios. These agents are paid only when the portfolio rises, aligning their incentives with the customer. Unlike exchange-built agents, independent agents can route trades to the most beneficial venues, not just the exchange's own.
The next battleground is which entity profits from the agents' order flow. With the EU's PFOF ban taking effect June 30, 2026, the old model is under pressure. Crypto builders are creating onchain rails for agents, promising greater transparency. An agentic platform that proves this alignment onchain could finally give retail investors a fairer counterparty.