Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock partner, said Wednesday that non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, could be due for a “rebirth.” Speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami conference, he argued that as AI agents flood the internet, old identity problems become new again.
Hoffman explained that he started rethinking NFTs when imagining a future with more AI agents than humans online. When one agent talks to another agent to book a meeting or complete a transaction, how do they trust each other? That question, he said, brought him back to the concept of NFTs.
The identity problem gets harder
Hoffman noted that identity systems already work inside companies. But the real challenge is identity for agents operating across the open internet. He called crypto the obvious answer for that problem. “It’s going to be kind of free range on the internet, and how does that work? And crypto is the obvious answer,” he said.
This idea connects to Hoffman’s earlier work at LinkedIn, where professional identity was central. Real identity, he said, can lead to more responsibility and reliability. But he also acknowledged that pseudonyms have legitimate uses in some situations.
Hoffman bought his first Bitcoin over a decade ago and said he has never sold any. He framed crypto as the natural solution to deepfake-era trust issues. He even mentioned his own AI clone, Reid AI, which he has sent to speak at conferences. As generative media improves, provenance will matter more, he argued.
Beyond agent-to-agent commerce
Hoffman said the identity problem goes beyond just agent transactions. He pointed to AI-generated content, bot farms, manipulated polls, and paid political influence campaigns. Proof-of-humanity, he said, is becoming harder to ignore online.
A bipartisan warning for crypto
In a politically cautious moment, Hoffman urged the crypto industry not to overcommit to Republicans. He warned that the pendulum could swing back. “It’s good to be bipartisan from a viewpoint of what we care about is the ecosystem. We care about how it plays a good role in society,” he said.
Hoffman also pushed back on the idea that AI is driving Big Tech layoffs. He said that in most cases, companies are using AI as an excuse for restructuring after over-hiring during the pandemic. “We’ve overhired because of the pandemic. We need to change. We’re going to call it AI for a position of strength,” he said.
Looking for second chances
As an investor, Hoffman said he is looking for crypto ideas that may have been tried too early in prior market cycles but could return as AI changes the internet. NFTs are one example, he said. But he also mentioned DAOs and other areas could see renewed relevance.
When asked at the end what his Bitcoin exit price was, Hoffman didn’t give a number. Instead, he asked: “Is there such a thing as an exit price?”
