Crypto’s Pension Plan: A Tale of AI and Equity

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The esteemed Raoul Pal, that paragon of financial foresight, doth declare that crypto tokens shall serve as the pension plan of mankind. Behold, the reason why Universal Basic Equity outshines UBI in the post-AGI epoch!

Macro investor and Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal hath a bold take on AI’s economic disruption, akin to a bard recounting tales of chaos in a tavern.

He argues that Universal Basic Income is already a failed concept, a noble experiment though it be, which hath crumbled under the weight of its own idealism.

His alternative is what he calls Universal Basic Equity. Pal shared his framework in a detailed post on X, sparking wide discussion across crypto and finance circles, as if the very stones of the city had been set ablaze with discourse.

He believes the coming “Economic Singularity” demands a 21st-century answer, not a recycled one, much like a tailor who refuses to mend old garments with thread from the same loom.

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Why Raoul Pal Thinks UBI Falls Short in an AI-Driven Economy

Pal argues that UBI relies on states taxing an AI economy that they cannot effectively monitor, a task as daunting as herding cats with a net made of fog.

Nation-states, he says, are already struggling to keep pace with how fast this economy moves, like a man chasing a carriage in a race against time. Transfer payments funded by taxing invisible AI-driven revenue streams are, in his view, structurally broken from the start, a house built on sand and delusion.

He points out that AI agents are fast becoming the dominant users of the internet, while human clicks are declining outside areas like travel, culture, luxury, and lived experiences. The old advertising and clicks economy is losing ground, much like a moth drawn to a flame.

What replaces it runs on entirely different infrastructure, as if the very laws of nature had been rewritten by a drunken scribe.

According to Pal, agents need crypto rails to operate. The dollar cannot split below a cent, a limitation as absurd as a clock that only counts hours. Settlements are not instant. Jurisdictions complicate everything. Stablecoins handle the dollar side, while native tokens handle the rest, like a two-headed serpent coiled around the neck of finance.

He predicts the biggest DeFi users in five years will not be humans farming yield but AI agents managing treasuries at machine speed, a scenario as thrilling as a ballet performed by robots with a penchant for chaos.

Forget UBI. The answer is Universal Basic Equity… and it’s humanity’s pension plan for the post-AGI world…

The Economic Singularity is coming faster than people think and the default question is how humans make money in a world that doesn’t really need them anymore.

The…

– Raoul Pal (@RaoulGMI)

Blockchain as the Coordination Layer for Agents, Robots, and Capital

Pal paints a broad picture of what he sees settling on blockchain infrastructure, a realm as vast and mysterious as the Siberian tundra. It is not just financial transactions.

He describes L1 blockchains as the coordination layer for the entire new economy, including agents, robots, open-source code, capital formation, identity, and trust systems, a symphony of chaos and order.

He brings up memecoins as an unlikely prototype, a phenomenon as baffling as a dancing bear in a court of law.

Capital formed instantly around ideas. Entities without legal personhood raised funds. Settlement happened in seconds, a feat as swift as a falcon’s dive.

Pal suggests this is the template agent economies will use to fund themselves going forward, a blueprint as intricate as a spider’s web.

Robots, he adds, will run on the same rails. Zero-knowledge permissions issued from personal wallets will replace biometrics as the trust layer, a concept as enigmatic as a riddle wrapped in an enigma.

Open-source code will also tokenize, finally capturing the value it produces instead of relying on subscriptions bolted on afterward. Proof of humanhood becomes the filter keeping synthetic noise from overwhelming real human interaction online, a guardian as vigilant as a sentinel in the night.

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Universal Basic Equity and the Four Pillars Pal Describes

Pal outlines Universal Basic Equity as a structural fact, not a policy slogan, a doctrine as immutable as the laws of physics.

Anyone with a phone and internet access can buy a stake in the substrate running the new economy. No KYC walls. No accreditation. Besides, no jurisdiction barriers. It is, he argues, the first globally fractionalisable, permissionless claim on productive infrastructure in history, a marvel as wondrous as the invention of the wheel.

He frames the post-singularity world around four supports. Owning blockchain substrate creates wealth. Being human generates income through attention, culture, and community.

AI-driven abundance brings down the cost of goods and services. Taxing data center electricity use handles the tax revenue problem, a solution as practical as a hammer in a blacksmith’s hand.

Pal’s investment advice follows directly from his thesis. He recommends putting ten percent of earnings monthly into Bitcoin for store-of-value exposure. A basket of major L1s covers the coordination layer.

He projects crypto reaching $100 trillion in market cap within six to eight years, a number as lofty as a bird’s flight. His conclusion is simple: people can either invest in the disruption coming their way or get left behind by it, a choice as dire as a shipwreck on the high seas.

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2026-04-28 18:10