There was no AI apocalypse scenario discussed at the investor gathering I attended in New York City this week.
On October 7 and 8, more than 1,000 self-directed traders convened for the Silvia Investor Summit, organized by Anthony Pompliano, CEO of ProCap Financial. On the agenda were speakers such as GameStop CEO and retail trading icon Ryan Cohen, Opendoor supporter Eric Jackson, and other personalities closely watched by the retail trading community.
The crowd was a blend of market enthusiasts, crypto advocates (one participant sported a Satoshi Nakamoto football jersey), and day traders. When I asked the attendees what they were most excited about in the markets, the answers were unexpectedly consistent.
Most of the traders I spoke with quickly made it clear that there is one potential game-changer they are currently focusing on: agentic AI.
“AI agents will generate more time for investors to pursue other activities,” a seasoned trader told me off the main stage. “That’s the most critical element there is. When everything becomes automated, everyone will have more time to do what they love. I’m 1,000% confident that it will be the catalyst we need.”
John Samuelson, chief investment officer at family office advisory firm Karas Partners, told me he’s spent years helping clients grasp digital assets. The bitcoin pin on his lapel suggested he might be primarily focused on the crypto market’s recent recovery, but I was mistaken.
Samuelson also brought up agentic AI for finance as the topic he’s most interested in, viewing it as bridging the divide between traditional finance and decentralized finance, or DeFi.
“I see it as a positive development across the board,” he said. “It’s beneficial for crypto and the digital-asset sector because they now have a very strong use case for cryptocurrencies in the payment system domain. It’s a positive development for the AI realm because [AI agents] now have the capability to complete transactions with one another.”
David Arquilla, a content producer who has also been investing and trading for years, told me he’s been focused on agentic finance recently because he sees it as a major breakthrough for multiple sectors, particularly bank stocks.
“I’m interested in companies that have declined but are ripe for AI integration,” Arquilla stated. “How will they continue to use AI to become more efficient, more profitable? We’ve experienced a significant pullback in banks recently but in the future, I could see bank stocks being valued at a much higher multiple, given the integration of AI.”
Arquilla added that he sees a world rapidly approaching in which AI handles most, if not all, actual trading for investors. Some investors have rejected the idea of letting AI execute trades on their behalf with their own money, but Arquilla said he believes he would trust the technology, though he likely wouldn’t allocate all his capital to it at first.
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