Most people assume the U.S. dollar has always been the world's financial king. It hasn’t.

Before the dollar took the crown in 1944, global reserve currencies rotated like clockwork: the British pound, Dutch guilder, Spanish dollar, Portuguese real. Each shift mirrored the era’s dominant technology and economic power. The dollar, born in 1792, took 152 years to claim its throne, riding the wave of two world wars and geopolitical upheaval.

We love to think the current system is eternal. History begs to differ.

What Happens When AI Starts Earning?

AI isn’t just a tool anymore. It’s creating, managing, negotiating, and executing. From writing articles to optimizing supply chains to running autonomous agents, AI is doing real economic work.

So, how does it get paid?

• Through PayPal?
• A wire transfer?
• A business checking account?

AI demands a currency as fast, global, and automated as it is.

Fiat Was Built for Humans. AI Won’t Wait.

The global fiat system—slow, bank-dependent, and riddled with friction—doesn’t cut it. It’s clunky across borders, dormant on weekends, and sluggish at machine speed. AI doesn’t care about 20th-century rules. It needs money that moves instantly.

So, what currency would an AI choose?

Why Bitcoin Makes Sense

Strip away the hype, and Bitcoin delivers:

• Borderless payments
• No human intermediaries
• Instant settlement (via Lightning Network)
• Immutable, verifiable history
• Limited supply, immune to inflation
• Open-source programmability
• Global access, 24/7/365

It’s machine-compatible money. No gatekeepers. No delays. No KYC.

Early experiments already show AI agents using Bitcoin Lightning wallets to handle paid tasks and distribute earnings. The dollar became king because the world craved stability after chaos. Bitcoin—or something like it—doesn’t need geopolitical drama. It just needs to be the most efficient choice for digital agents at global scale.

While humans debate “trust” and “inflation,” machines pick what clears fastest, costs least, and doesn’t fail.

Final Thought

Humans trusted the dollar. Machines don’t trust—they verify. That’s a new paradigm for what counts as money.

If you’re betting on the next reserve currency coming from a central bank, you’re not just late—you’re thinking like a human.

What do you think?

If AI is the new economy, we’d better understand the money it’ll use.