Hot Topics: Navigating the Future: U.S. Blockchain Strategy and the Rise of AI Agents in Web3

Get ready for an insightful journey through the future of Web3 with the Edge of Show. In this episode, hosted by January Jones and Richard Carthon, we welcome Alice Shikova and Harris Seletsky from Space ID to discuss the rapidly evolving Blockchain Strategy in the U.S., emerging signals of a Crypto Winter, and the rise of AI Agents reshaping trust and identity in Web3. As the U.S. proposes a bipartisan bill to create a National Blockchain Advisory Committee, the landscape of regulation and innovation is shifting. Simultaneously, warnings from Coinbase about declining market health stir concern, while the exponential growth of autonomous AI agents prompts a new era of Digital Identity. This episode delivers a compelling conversation at the intersection of innovation, security, and decentralization—one you won’t want to miss.

Key Topics Covered:

• U.S. Blockchain Strategy Legislation A proposed bipartisan bill to form a National Blockchain Deployment Advisory Committee within the Department of Commerce signifies a shift in U.S. Blockchain Strategy, enabling government-backed innovation and academic collaboration.
• Crypto Winter Warnings from Coinbase Coinbase Institutional's report highlights a 41% drop in crypto market cap (excluding Bitcoin) and declining venture capital activity—signs of a looming Crypto Winter.
• AI Agents and Trust in Web3 Autonomous AI agents are managing wallets, trading, and deploying contracts, raising concerns about fraud. Space ID’s approach to Digital Identity offers solutions for trust and verification.
• Digital Identity as the Web3 Front Door Space ID emphasizes the importance of naming systems and Digital Identity to prevent scams, simplify cross-chain transactions, and build trust with AI agents and meme coins.

Episode Highlights:

• "This bill is the clearest signal that blockchain is moving from rebel tech to national infrastructure." — Alice Shikova
• "Mainstream adoption by the government, which manages trillions, is a whole other level." — Harris Seletsky
• "The best crypto projects love the cold... Crypto Winter works like a hype filter." — Alice Shikova
• "We're entering the age of AI agents... They’re trading our NFTs and managing our wallets." — Alice Shikova
• "You want to make sure you’re interacting with the right agent—digital identity is key to trust." — Harris Seletsky

People and Resources Mentioned:

• January Jones
• Richard Carthon
• Alice Shikova
• Harris Seletsky
• Space ID
• Department of Commerce
• Coinbase
• MetaMask
• Binance
• KuCoin

About Our Guest:

Alice Shikova is a key leader at Space ID, a blockchain-based Digital Identity platform originally launched as the domain provider for BNB Chain. Under her leadership, the platform expanded into a universal identity solution for Web3 participants—including users, brands, dApps, AI agents, and meme coins. With a passion for safe digital interactions, Alice is helping define the future of Digital Identity and cross-chain usability in the Web3 era.

Harris Seletsky is an executive at Space ID, focusing on the architecture of secure and user-friendly Digital Identity systems. With nearly a decade in crypto, Harris contributes deep knowledge of blockchain, AI integration, and the importance of verifiability in on-chain ecosystems. His recent work includes Payment ID integration into MetaMask, enhancing usability across blockchains.

Guest Contacts:

• Alice Shikova
  
  • LinkedIn
  • Website
  • Twitter
• Harris Seletsky
  
  • LinkedIn
  • Website
  • Twitter

Transcript:
January Jones: Welcome to Hot Topics on the Edge of Show. I'm January Jones with my co-host, Richard Carthon. Joining us today from Space ID are Alex Koba and Harrison Salensky. Welcome to the show, Alice and Harrison.
Harris Seletsky: Hi, January.
January Jones: Hi, everyone.
Alice Shikova: Thanks for having us.
Richard Carthon : Yeah, no problem. It's great to have you both. Coming up, we're going to be talking about the U.S. blockchain strategy, crypto winter warnings, AI agents reshaping Web3 trust, and of course, SpaceID. This is another production of the Edge of Company, a rapidly growing media ecosystem empowering the pioneers of Web3, technology, culture, and innovation. Let's jump into it.
January Jones: OK, well, we're kicking off with some big news from yesterday. This week, a group of bipartisan U.S. senators have just introduced a new bill to establish a National Blockchain Deployment Advisory Committee under the Department of Commerce. So the goal is to shape national blockchain strategy. But up until now, the crypto policy and regulatory oversight have primarily been involved in the executive branch and also the independent regulatory agencies like the SEC. So there are a few congressional committees already going, but none have any actual authority or formal advisory. This new proposal would be a big shift because it would put the Commerce Department right in the middle of everything and make the Commerce Secretary a principal advisor to the president about blockchain and crypto. Richard, what are your thoughts on this? This is another one we didn't see coming, right?
Richard Carthon : Yeah, definitely didn't see this coming and coming this quickly. So obviously, it could be pretty substantial in a lot of different ways, seeing the Commerce Department take on this blockchain policy. Crypto isn't fringe anymore, blockchain isn't fringe anymore, it's really becoming a center of focus on where the future of technology as it relates to the US is beginning to focus. Obviously, there's been a whole lot of AI conversations, there's been a lot of other innovative tech that has come into the forefront, but blockchain is something that can't be ignored anymore. And it's even being seen as a pillar for economic strategy as well. So the fact that they're even proposing this with all the various stakeholders is not just about the government officials that are coming into this, but also showing on different real world applications and how blockchain is being used from startups, enterprises, even how it's being taught in academia across US universities. So I think having this advisory committee is going to help move blockchain innovation further, faster, and under the right ramifications of understanding the regulations that could come with this. And usually you see with not having clear standards, innovation being stifled. But now, as these clear lanes are being established, it's going to allow for innovation to happen even faster. But I am curious, Harrison or Allison, whoever wants to go first, what's your take on this?
Harris Seletsky: Yeah, I can jump in. I agree with you, Richard. I think the fact that the most powerful governments in the world is discussing at a high level how they can utilize blockchain beyond just the Bitcoin and crypto strategic reserves, but really how can they utilize the technology to better simplify or just really improve the process of transactions or payments or funds is super important. The industry is still relatively new. Same like AI. It's been around for about 15 years now. And it's now at the level where, like you said, it's no longer fringe. It's getting talked about and introduced and discussed at the very highest level of commerce, of government. So, yeah, I think this is a really important step as regulatory clarity comes that we're actually exploring these ways of how we can bring this to mainstream and mainstream adoption. I mean, when you think mainstream adoption in crypto, you usually think about the retail user, but mainstream adoption by the government, you know, that manages trillions of dollars is a whole nother level of adoption. So I think it's a very positive sign.
Alice Shikova: I agree with you, Richard and Harrison, and I think that this bill is the clearest signal that blockchain is moving from rebel tech to national infrastructure and national level. And this is really, really good for decentralized platforms, including our platform Space AD. And this legislative move is something that we've been waiting for long. And when Washington stops arguing and starts building, this is when we really see that something is shifting.
January Jones: And it's also interesting to note that the committee proposal is a broad group of stakeholders, right? They're trying to bring this around the table and have them on a formal advisory board. You know, we have the crypto policy group from the White House, right? But now this is in the Department of Commerce. This is kind of a big deal, right? And in addition to having the business voices there, they're also looking at higher education. But it's such a shift to get academics, business people, and policymakers around the same committee and see how they fight it out, right, on what they should advise. Because having an advisement directly to the White House is a role that none of the congressional committees that we have so far are really doing. They don't have the authority. So it's one of those other key things that are happening right now so quickly that is really embedding the business of crypto web3 blockchain into our government.
Harris Seletsky: Yeah, I think it's also really great to see that it's bipartisan and viewed as a more neutral way, because it should be a technology that as long as it can improve, you know, the overall transaction process for everyone, it shouldn't be a left or right wing thing. So the fact that both sides of the aisle are able to get behind using this technology to just improve the baseline is a really strong sign, I would say.
January Jones: Yeah, definitely agree. And so we're going to move on to our next story, which is a little less optimistic. But as we know, things go up and down in this industry. So Shifting Gears Coinbase Institutional just released a report warning that we might be sliding into a new crypto winter. The key signs, the total crypto market cap excluding Bitcoin is down 41% from December 2024. Venture capital funding for crypto projects is down 50-60% compared to the peak years of 2021 and 2022. So while Bitcoin is holding up a little bit better, the major factor seems to be tariffs. I mean, crypto used to be decoupled from the stock market and these larger forces. That was kind of the whole point. Right. So with such large government adoption and now we've got TradFi coming in, are we seeing the end of that decoupling? Richard, what do you think?
Richard Carthon : I'm not sure if we're going to see the full end of the decoupling. I think there's a couple of things to look at as it relates to this specific article. And as like, you know, the Coinbase venture capital arm looking at this, if you look over the last year in 2024, for example, it was the lowest amount of VC investments in the space that I think we've seen in years. And, you know, last year was a more bullish year than the last several winters that we had. And historically speaking, from a cyclical standpoint post Bitcoin halvening event, we should be on track for what would be the next bull cycle and what a lot of people think could be the quote unquote super cycle. And that was before all of the things that are happening out in the West with, you know, Bitcoin being seen as potential part of the reserve and a lot of other factors coming into place. And even even with the pullback that we've seen in Bitcoin this year from all time highs, when you look at the rest of the market, For example, Ethereum, Ethereum is struggling right now. Ethereum historically leads alt season. And right now, Ethereum's back below $2,000, down 48% in the last year, over the last year, year to date, I think even further. And when we look at historically, when the market starts to trend in an upward trend, two things typically happen. ETH starts going up and you start seeing more money flow into the rest of the alt market. But then you also see Bitcoin dominance begin to decrease. But Bitcoin dominance has been going up. Bitcoin dominance is back above 60 percent. as it keeps increasing. Uh, it's not great for the entire crypto market. I think Bitcoin, I think the big winner right now with everything that's going on, Bitcoin is here. It's here to stay. I don't think anyone's really threatened by that, but as it relates to the rest of the crypto market, now we've got to see how is the rest of the market going to, um, handle everything that's going on. And I guess getting back to the tariff question, um, as it relates to what has historically happened over the last several cycles, um, a tear for isn't something that the market has really had to deal with before. So in the short term, I do think there's going to be pain, but I don't think that overall this the cycle of of truly having the full bullish moment, I don't think that's happened yet. And I don't think it's not going to happen. I'm on the optimistic side that the best is still ahead. I don't think that we've already seen the top of the current bull cycle. But that's kind of just my take on where things are right now. Alice, I'll kind of pass it to you. Do you have any initial thoughts on this?
Alice Shikova: Yeah, I could add another perspective on this. And I could even imagine that even if we have a crypto winter coming in, I think for us, it's always a build season because the best and one of the biggest projects were built in the last winter, crypto winter in 2021. In the beginning of 2022, Space City was built around that time as well. Arbitrum, Optimism, GemX, and Lens Protocol, Firecaster, and all of them survive the bear market and I think that even if crypto winter is coming in it's going to work more like the hype filter and best crypto projects love the cold and what we are going to see right now we are just going to see a lot of scam wiped out and only solid and big only solid and strong projects will stay
January Jones: Excellent point. I really do see that. Harrison, what do you think?
Harris Seletsky: Yeah, I would agree. I would say just to add to that, I think the tariffs and market uncertainty is playing a major role. Markets don't like uncertainty. They don't like volatility. And crypto is, as a whole, a very risk on asset class. So I think a lot of the speculation we saw with meme coins in the last cycle, we saw with NFTs, these kind of hot potato assets where it's like, how can I maximally extract value and then push it on to the next person? People are getting a little tired of that. And for good reason. I think a lot of the crypto space, especially kind of a lot of us that have been here for a while, are massively underexposed to Bitcoin. I think a lot of people want to speculate, try and find the next big thing. How can I find the next 1000X? And by doing that, we kind of throw out the baby with the bathwater. Bitcoin is really solidifying itself as a global asset, a global store of value, which maybe swayed a little bit from its original goal as a payment rail, a decentralized payment rail. But the fact that we've seen so much volatility and Bitcoin is still holding strong over 80,000 is wild. If you talk to anyone in the crypto space a year ago and said the stock market dropped 20% and Bitcoin is still maintaining over $80,000 price, I think everyone would be shocked and would say there's no way that's possible. So I think we're seeing a massive speculative bubble burst. You know, the pump fund meme coins, every single new L1 and L2 that's kind of trying to just tweak infrastructure here and there and raise at nine figure valuations. I think people are getting very tired of that. And they're just, you know, the value proposition isn't really what it was when there was a lot more speculative money willing to take risks. So I think we should take a step back and look from, you know, a first principles perspective, how Bitcoin has continued to hold so strong, even through this volatility. And then, yeah, obviously, the Ethereum Decrease in price is very worrying. I still think DeFi and stablecoins is kind of the core value proposition of smart contracts right now. And that should continue to solidify itself because there is a strong value proposition behind that. So hopefully, this is more of a maturing moment for the market where A lot of the market, both from the retail and the VC side, can kind of step away from speculation and move towards real value propositions. And I have a feeling we will go back to speculation just because people are always looking to maximize, you know, how can I make 100x? But I don't think people should overlook Bitcoin. I think it is safe. It is boring in the crypto space. But there's a reason it's maintaining its dominance and that it's being adopted, you know, by governments, by institutions, by sovereign wealth funds. So I would kind of advise all of us that have been here in the space for a while, like, yeah, of course, hunt out for these speculative next moves, but don't overlook what kind of got us here in the first place and what's been able to hold so strong throughout all of these ups and downs.
January Jones: Well, this of course is not financial advice. This is info teaming as we like to call it on this show. But since my name is January, I will say it. Winter is coming. But maybe it's a good thing because as you guys pointed out, it's time to build and this will shake out a lot of the scams and the speculation that tend to really cloud, you know, the real purpose and a lot of the reason why people are in this industry in the first place. Well, let's move on talking more about trust and what's going on as we're seeing AI agents flooding crypto. So it's been the talk of 2025, the rise of AI agents and blockchain ecosystems, they're becoming so prolific. And we're also seeing them being a centerpiece of hackathons as well. These autonomous digital entities are starting to trade, govern, and make decisions on-chain, but that's bringing a whole new set of trust issues. Without clear, verifiable identities, bots, fraudsters, and bad actors can flood the space and cause even more chaos that we've seen with meme coins, airdrop farming, and DeFi exploits. In fact, there's a huge surge in crypto thefts this year, up 300% in the first quarter of 2025. So Harrison, I know this is something that you really have a lot of expertise in. What do you think that AI agents are playing a role, even in just talking about crypto thefts and fraud, and what is there to be done about this?
Harris Seletsky: Yeah, sure. So I think at the base of it, when you want to discuss trust, you need verifiability. And when you're talking verifiability on blockchains, it can get very confusing. I don't know how many people have tried to navigate a block explorer, but it's definitely not the easiest thing to do, especially when you're trying to dig into these transactions. Even nowadays with meme coins, with AI agents, if one is successful, you'll see a flood of copycats coming in after that are trying to capitalize on that. So at SpaceID, we're a universal identity platform, and we're trying to make it easier for users to discern the differences between what is truly verifiable on-chain, what users want to be interacting with, versus all the noise in the background. This is true for AI agents, for smart contracts, for users, for whales. Pretty much every asset or every on-chain interaction, you should be able to understand what you're actually getting involved in. And AI agents are going to play a huge role in that, especially as they continue to mature. Like you said, January, as they start getting more involved with trading, with deploying their own protocols, with governance, you want to make sure that you're interacting with the agents you think you're interacting with, especially successful ones. There will be a lot of copycats. Something we're definitely focusing on as an identity protocol is how can we make it safe and easy for these users to verify that they're interacting with the right agent, and they can do that through a human-readable domain name, a human-readable decentralized identity. So if you have an agent like AIXBT or on ElizaOS, you'll know exactly the agent that you're interacting with because you won't have to double check every single letter and number within their wallet address or within their token. The 42 character OX wallet address, you'll be able to see, oh, January Jones just released her OX January bot. And now this is January.agent. And every other January Jones scam bot, you'll know, oh, they don't have this digital identity. There's no way to prove that they're the actual bot. Now I can see which one is which, and I know that I'm interacting with the one that I meant to. So this is a way to safeguard users, to safeguard funds, to make sure you're not going to get phished or hacked or interact with something malicious. And we think as these continue to come to market, it's going to be very important for both newcomers and for advanced users to be able to very easily discern between these fraudsters and the real deal.
January Jones: Well, let me ask a follow-up question to that, because since you said I had a bot, I don't yet, but I'm thinking of it like my pet, like my dog. So you're saying that my AI agent is going to have an identity and it's linked to me, right? And so people will have that credibility. versus what I was been thinking in this space is like people love their anonymity in this space, right? That's kind of half the point. So now are we saying that every AI agent, you know, is a dog on a leash?
Harris Seletsky: Well, it could be both. It really depends on the end user. There's no reason you have to tie your actual identity to your agent. It could be an anonymous name or a pseudonym. You know, like on crypto Twitter, there's many people with a random, you know, cartoon PFP. We don't know their actual identity, but they have hundreds of thousands of followers. They've built a brand for themselves and there's value to that brand name. So you don't need to necessarily tie your real identity to it, but you'll still be able to use these human readable identities to verify you're interacting with the right thing. So it doesn't need to be the January Jones bot. It could be, you know, the Satoshi bot or, you know, the Crypto Punk 45 bot. It doesn't have to be your actual identity. You have full control and customization, and there's no need to ever reveal your identity unless you want to, because it's a fully decentralized and permissionless protocol.
January Jones: But the key here is that the transactions and business, let's say they've been doing is auditable, you can tell. And so that's one of the ways that you're gonna be able to build that trust.
Harris Seletsky: Exactly. So even if you don't know who is behind the actual agent or the token, you can still verify it's the token that you want to interact with. Like you said, it's like essentially auditing what you're doing on chain. You'll be able to verify and understand if there's a hundred Trump coins, you know, this is the main Trump coin. This is the original Trump coin, not one of the imposters. If there's a hundred bots deployed with the same name, you'll be able to easily, uh, establish which one is the real one without having to check, you know, 0x157A6Z, you'll be able to see this is, you know, Agent 007 or whatever you want. It'll just be like a username or an email address or a Twitter handle where it'll be very easy to audit and prove that you're interacting with the correct entity. Alice, Richard, what are your thoughts?
Alice Shikova: Yeah, I think we are not just entering the age of AI agents, but we are already here and those agents are already trading our NFTs and managing our wallets and restocking our fridge, literally. And I think that as long as we don't, we should put naming systems in place because, and here I'm talking about the digital identity, digital identity will be for real the front door for those innovative technologies and we should keep an eye on that front door if we want technologies and those innovations to work for us and not against us because AI represents a lot of potential but at the same time a lot of risks And going back to your point about anonymity, I think that naming isn't about recreating bureaucracy and diminishing anonymity and skipping on privacy. It's more about providing a context. it's more for people to understand who they're speaking to as Harrison mentioned are they speaking to a Trading bot or to a toaster that's gonna scam them in the next day on telegram and it's all about Digital identity because digital identity is not just a part of the web free space it's gonna be that interface that will be like a connective tissue between among all of the verticals of Web3 space. And it will thread through payments, it will thread through NFTs, through DeFi lending and borrowing, through AI agents. And yeah, this is what we've been tying into with Space AD with our current product offering, because it's important to equip the Web3 space with the proper technology stack with those AI agents flooding the space and meme coins popping up like mushrooms after the rain when you don't know which Trump token is that legit Trump token that you would like to buy.
Richard Carthon : Yeah, I think there's a, I mean, I think Harrison also brought up a lot of really interesting facts, I'm gonna kind of go in a really different direction and just be swift with it, which is the, the challenge right now is that, as it relates to web three. Unfortunately, there's a lot more. AI agents aren't being used for good as they are with, you know, being more of just taking advantage of an opportunity and being a first mover and like exploiting an opportunity that exists. And as we go to things that are more legitimate and as, you know, as we were talking about earlier with more regulations and everything else come into place and things happen to be a little bit more identifiable, I think the DIDs are very important. And, you know, there shouldn't just be fraudulent activity that can just come on and completely take over. I think the pro right now is that we're seeing a lot of these challenges come up. And we know that it's a problem. And now solutions are coming out to help fix them. I think, you know, in the way that Space ID identified these, they're immediately going to help rectify this. And so I think Things aren't necessarily going to get worse before they get better. But I think for how AI agents are being used in a negative light, solutions are already being put in place to solve those challenges. And that gives me a lot of encouragement with where the industry is headed as it relates to maturity and providing more usable tools that is going to make the next round of innovation all the more better. So I'll just end on that.
January Jones: Well, that's the transition here, right? So Alice and Harrison, obviously this is an area of expertise. Space ID is a blockchain-based digital identity platform. So why don't you tell us about what you guys are doing and what's the motivation for this product, right? Like we kind of just hinted at it. So how are you guys solving some of these issues?
Alice Shikova: I can start off. I would first of all mention that SpaceID started as the biggest and the official web free domain provider for the BNB chain. Since 2022, we've grown into something much, much bigger than just selling domain names. And this is the full digital identity stack. And it's not just for individual users and retails. It's for brands, it's for dApps, it's for creators, it's for AI agents and for meme coins. It went so much beyond than just the main names because the main names were a piece of digital identity. representation of who you are on chain. And this is also important even when we are talking about AI agents. So currently on our agenda is definitely addressing the market needs and they demand. Let's say if we are talking about AI flooding the space, we want to ensure that interactions between AI and AI and human and AI will be seamless, secure and verifiable as we all discussed just earlier. If we are talking about meme coins that are also so popular and people are apron into those, we want to make sure that people are purchasing the legitimate tokens that are verifiable on blockchain explorers, rather than the scams and fraudsters tokens.
Harris Seletsky: Yeah, and just to add another aspect to that, I think another really important feature we're focusing on is account abstraction and trying to make it as easy as possible to onboard new users. Anytime you sign up for a new platform, the first thing that you're prompted to do is set a username. And when you're a newcomer to crypto, when you're opening your wallet, when you're transferring funds, That can be very nerve-wracking to people that haven't experienced this for the first time. I mean, I've been in crypto for almost a decade now, and I'm always still double-checking every single letter and number before I send a transaction. So for us, it's really how can we simplify this process for users for dApps, for exchanges. We just released a product in the last few weeks called Payment ID, which has now been integrated into MetaMask, which is supposed to simplify the exchange deposit process. So you can register your own identity like Harrison and map all of your wallet addresses directly to that identity. So anytime I want to send to Binance, I can send to Harrison at Binance, whether it's on an EVM chain on Solana or Bitcoin, same with Bybit, with KuCoin, with any exchange. So it really brings that more traditional username feel on chain. And we think that'll really help lower the barrier to entry, as well as just make it easier and safer and more verifiable for users to interact with each other, for them to interact with dApps, for them to feel comfortable when they're sending large amount of funds, where once you click confirm, there's no going back. You want to make sure that you're always having these safety mechanisms in place, and it's much easier to use and have a username-like experience when you're doing that. For us, yes, we are an identity platform, but I also think we're building a bridge to make it easier, at least in this one specific area, to help users transact and to bring these new users on board, that they can feel more comfortable and have a more traditional Web2 feel when they're doing these interactions.
Richard Carthon : Yeah, I think, you know, sharing all that's really awesome. And, you know, when we first had a deeper conversation, Alice, back at ETHEM, you were telling me about this, the practicality of it made a lot of sense. And it's just that user flow that makes the Crypto experience a little bit easier, takes a little stress out just like Harrison said, but then allows for you to also to be able to do more and more on various chains because I think that's the other barrier to entry for a lot of people is figuring out how to go cross chain across like these, these different blockchains as you want to do more and more of these interactions and SpaceID is helping to make a lot of that easier. So we definitely appreciate you coming on and discussing with us today, sharing more information. And of course, for everyone listening, we're wrapping up today's episode. We covered U.S. government's big move toward a national blockchain strategy. We unpacked Coinbase's warning signs of a new crypto winter and explored how AI agents are reshaping the future and trust in Web3. Where do you think blockchain and crypto are headed next? Jump into the conversation on social and drop us a comment as we'd always love to hear your thoughts.
January Jones: Thanks for tuning in to this week's journey through the hottest Web3 topics. We're thrilled to explore these innovations with you and can't wait to bring more exciting updates and conversations. I'm January here with Richard, Alice, and Harrison, signing off. Stay curious, stay innovative, and we'll see you next time.
Richard Carthon : Alright, that's a wrap. Thank you both!