The Shark Tank investor says AI and blockchain will drive the next business revolution
Venture capitalist and Shark Tank co-host Kevin O’Leary believes that AI-powered agents will soon automate most retail purchases, from coffee orders to grocery runs — and that blockchain technology will be the backbone for processing payments securely and instantly.
In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, O’Leary said consumers will soon be able to order items completely hands-free using AI agents connected to digital wallets on blockchain networks.
“You simply talk to your phone and say, I want a tall, low-fat latte, please. I’ll be there in 90 seconds,” O’Leary explained. “The AI figures out where you are, finds the nearest retailer, places the order, and then uses a blockchain to process the digital payment.”
AI is about to collide with blockchain and change everything. Imagine ordering your coffee by voice, AI finds the café, and blockchain processes your payment instantly.
That’s the next revolution in business. Faster, smarter, fully on-chain. The question is: who builds it… pic.twitter.com/IWyTgY2tga
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) October 19, 2025
He added that the system would already have the user’s verified identity, so the barista would know your name when you walk in — turning retail interactions into seamless, automated experiences.
Scalability remains the biggest obstacle
Despite the vision, O’Leary said the technology still can’t handle millions of transactions simultaneously at a low cost — a key barrier to making AI-driven retail commerce viable.
He pointed to Ethereum’s limitations, noting that its linear transaction processing creates delays and spikes in gas fees during network congestion.
“It’s like a long highway with too many cars going to one toll booth,” O’Leary said. “They get stuck, and everything slows down.”
He added that newer blockchain architectures, like Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) — used by Hedera and Nano — could solve this scalability issue through parallel transaction processing, but these platforms still lack mass adoption.
AI is already transforming daily life
While blockchain lags behind, agentic AI is already reshaping how people shop.
Kyle Okamoto, CTO of Aethir, told Cointelegraph that his wife built an AI assistant that tracks grocery lists, compares prices across Target, Whole Foods, and Amazon, and even issues price alerts.
“She doesn’t want to check every site herself, so the AI agent does it and gives her the best options,” Okamoto said.
O’Leary concluded that AI and blockchain together will define the next revolution in business — once the payment bottleneck is solved.
“Whoever figures that out first will own the future of retail,” he said.
Disclaimer
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves risk and may result in financial loss.
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