Two prominent opinion pieces published on March 19, 2026, present critical views on the future of technology and cryptocurrency, focusing on the centralization of power and the evolution of market access.
AI Abundance and the Centralization of Wealth
In an opinion piece by blockchain and AI senior advisor Merav Ozair, PhD, the popular vision of a post-scarcity world driven by artificial intelligence is critically examined. The article challenges the notion promoted by figures like Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis that AI will make "everything free," ending poverty and providing universal high income. Ozair argues that while AI and automation could drive the marginal cost of goods toward zero, the foundational infrastructure required—AI factories, energy, and robotics—entails massive upfront costs that will not disappear.
The core bottleneck identified is energy. For AI-driven abundance to scale, energy must become extremely cheap and scalable. Options like nuclear fission, while mature, have limitations, and nuclear fusion, though promising, remains experimental and requires investments of hundreds of billions of dollars. Elon Musk's proposed solution involves lunar manufacturing and solar power, leveraging the moon's resources and low gravity to build AI infrastructure, a plan that could unlock a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity but requires overcoming significant technical and financial hurdles.
Ozair warns that this infrastructure will likely be controlled by a few centralized entities, such as tech giants like Nvidia, AWS, and SpaceX, or governments like China, which is aggressively integrating renewable energy into its AI ecosystem. This centralization could lead to "the biggest concentration of wealth in history," where infrastructure owners dictate the terms of distribution, creating a "soft prison" where users trade autonomy for access to services. The article concludes that in a world of AI abundance, if something is "free," the product is your self-sovereignty.
The End of the Listing Era in Crypto
In a separate opinion, Jason Dominique, co-founder and CEO of ONCHAIN® Labs, argues that the traditional model of crypto asset access is fundamentally broken and nearing its end. For years, access to on-chain assets has been gated by intermediaries through processes like exchange listings and wallet support, creating an "economic tax on participation." This system monetizes access detours, forcing users to acquire intermediary-controlled native assets unrelated to their intent.
Dominique notes that while the execution layer (e.g., decentralized exchanges, smart contracts) has matured, access has remained a bottleneck controlled by gatekeepers. This distorts innovation, as builders must prioritize relationships with platforms over user needs. However, a structural shift is underway with the rise of intent-based protocols. These systems allow users to express desired outcomes, with the protocol dynamically sourcing liquidity and execution at the network level.
This transition moves access from being platform-granted to being network-native, rendering traditional listings and on-ramps obsolete. The change is described as "quiet but irreversible," fundamentally shifting the center of gravity in crypto away from intermediaries and back to the networks themselves. By abstracting away execution and solving access at the transaction layer, the industry can move towards truly open and permissionless markets.
