Written by: Gary Yang
Written in London on February 24, 2026
Since the outbreak of Openclaw in mid-January, I have almost declined all external activities, except for the four days of the Consensus conference in Hong Kong, including online spaces and 90% of offline meetings. I have faced the largest singularity change in human history only through code and Agent dialogues. Similarly, in this article, I have tried to save time by summarizing the current issues in the shortest form, as the time left for everyone after the singularity is extremely limited.
tl;dr
The engineering significance and historical significance of Openclaw
AI-Fi and financial chips
The disruption of global finance and the collapse of social management
Panic without consensus caused by multi-level information asymmetry
Singularity sequences after the singularity
Fundamental changes in global geopolitical foundations
1.The engineering significance and historical significance of Openclaw
The engineering significance of Openclaw:
The essence of Openclaw is not a set of intelligent algorithms, but rather a framework based on memory file integration intelligent tools. I have seen many statements online that I believe are not accurate enough. Here, I summarize it by dividing it into seven levels:
Level 1 Infrastructure Layer (Infra): The lowest layer of the entire architecture, which includes hardware devices or cloud services.
Level 2 System Layer (OS): The operating systems, including Linux, iOS, Windows, etc.
Level 3 Environment Layer (DevOps): The CI/CD layer above the system layer, such as GitHub; this layer has high deployment specificity.
Level 4 Skill Layer (Skills): The organ layer, which is the brain and limbs of AI, including listening, speaking, reading, writing, and various capabilities. LLM is loaded at this layer.
Level 5 Memory Layer (md): This is the core value of Openclaw and the essence that differentiates it from LLM tools.
Level 6 Function Layer (Jobs): The Agent layer, which focuses on the division of labor for Agents from AI tools to one-person company management.
Level 7 Task Layer (Apps): The daily task logic and queue tasks of different functional Agents/Bots.
As stated by the official Openclaw, Markdown memory files are the core value. The simple refinement of the memory layer enables AI Agents to possess the ability for long-term combat; a mere few kilobytes of data can surprisingly drive the dramatic changes at this historical juncture.
The historical significance of Openclaw:
From a mesoscopic perspective, Openclaw will intensify the productivity explosion of AI, changing all industries globally. It will no longer be limited to tasks with relatively defined guidelines, such as translation, law, design, or coding; even complex non-standard jobs like auditing, finance, engineering management, and business management will be rapidly replaced or upgraded. Likewise, as robots develop rapidly, the combination with microcontrollers will easily take over the majority of physical labor. From a macroscopic perspective, the singularity triggered by Openclaw will become the dividing line transitioning from human labor as the mainstay to silicon-based labor. In a time frame faster than we can imagine, humanity's position in the natural society will be thoroughly transformed, and the foundation of civilization will fully enter the next stage.
Returning to the reality of Q1 2026, the small working cluster of 12 bots built on Linux has demonstrated the universality of collaboration across various industries. Simply put, Agents can be classified into three categories: one for collaboration and code, one for information and thought, and one for business and money. For over a month, I have, like many others, toggled between excitement and fear; in no time, all business models will be upgraded and disrupted.
2.AI-Fi and financial chips
At the Hong Kong conference two weeks ago, I encountered Mr. Shen, who mentioned my article on financial circuits and the principles of web3 economic models that I wrote three years ago. I excitedly said this time that the conjecture, which I initially thought would take 30 years to realize, now seems possible to be realized this year with the boost of Openclaw.
The principle of financial circuits refers to the rapid iteration of the development of financial digital-derived products due to the emergence of Web3 and Crypto. Much like electronic components such as resistors and capacitors rapidly developed in the 20th century, they no longer stay at the surface of a single function but will quickly evolve into complex system combinations, forming integrated products similar to circuit boards or even chips, thereby possessing financial effects that singular functions cannot achieve. Financial chips are the ultimate result of this process.
When AI-driven algorithmic components can make effective, flexible decisions based on vast amounts of data in an instant, capable of long-term self-evolution, we can wrap it in Crypto's Smart Contract on DeFi, turning it into virtual digital chips similar to FPGAs or even microcontrollers, becoming a super financial digital decision-making entity. This digital decision-making entity, the financial chip, will no longer rely on human intervention for decisions. It will achieve a positive balance between Key/Gas costs and asset profitability, creating a financial product with independent intelligent production value.
Compared to Web4.0 or DeFi3.0, I believe AI-Fi is a more precise way of description. As AI quickly drives Agents to form independent working capabilities, our understanding of financial products and the financial industry should undergo a complete qualitative change. The inertia of understanding in Wall Street and traditional finance will be completely overturned. Single algorithmic quantitative strategies will be historically eliminated; the key to winning in financial assets is not only the ability to process vast data and parameter changes but also the evolutionary capacity for rapid adjustments of continuously innovative algorithms and strategies. Only super-intelligent financial assets packaged within AI Agent + Crypto Smart Contract can adapt to the financial environment of the next era.
3.The disruption of global finance and the collapse of social management
In my article "The Outbreak of DeFi 2.0 Under the Disorderly Restructuring of 2026" published at the end of last year, I mentioned the "last gasp of traditional financial inertia and the failure of society under stringent data regulation." Simply put, just the digital production relationship upgrade from Crypto presents a significant challenge to the existing environment.
After Nasdaq, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), issued a press release on January 19, 2026, confirming that NYSE is developing a tokenized securities platform that supports 24×7 trading and plans to seek SEC approval to promote this service. One can say that New York's response efficiency and practical execution in facing last year’s digital shock from Crypto remain admirable, far ahead of all other hesitant attitudes globally. Yet, even so, the policy's and the majority's inertia of understanding are still hard to truly adapt to this change.
What's frightening is that the upgrading power of AI digital productivity has escalated the rift caused by Crypto's digital production relationship with traditional finance and society by an order of magnitude. If we refer to the situation at the end of last year as the last gasp and failure, then this year it is a complete disruption and collapse. Unlike any historical transformation, the exponential pull brought by AI + Crypto leaves no space or opportunity for any retrograde dogma; it's Go Fast or Go Home.
4.Panic without consensus caused by multi-level information asymmetry
Interestingly, and sadly, in such an environment, everyone is not only constantly switching between FOMO and FUD, but for completely different reasons. The vast majority are seeking confidence anchors under the segment they focus on, yet they clearly understand that under such an AI + Crypto tsunami, it is utterly futile.
As was the case at the Consensus conference in Hong Kong at the beginning of February 2026, it was a conference entirely without consensus: no consensus for bulls or bears, no compliance consensus, no credit consensus, no value consensus; the only consensus was that the disruption caused by AI after Openclaw led participants of the Crypto Consensus conference to find mismatched agreements.
Due to the severe changes occurring simultaneously across multiple levels and structures, people from different countries and regions within various industries obtain, understand, digest, and respond to information at completely different speeds. Consequently, the globe will enter a stage of super-fast development and complete chaotic lack of consensus in 2026. The speed of technological advancement and the essence of culture differ significantly; the panic without consensus is already impacting various financial assets and future expectations in Q1 2026. Although similar, the degree of chaos in energy has completely surpassed that of the Great Depression of 1929 and the periods surrounding it. Additionally, the disruptive force and speed of AI + Crypto far exceed those during the industrial automation and digitization phase, thus shifting the positions of gold and safe-haven assets in the 20th century completely. Currently, we must not only think about how to avoid risks in chaotic times but also consider the risk of being thrown off the train and never catching up again. Merely seeking refuge in this environment of exponential disruption poses immense risks in itself.
5.Singularities after the singularity
Under an exponentially developing curve, what happens once the critical singularity is breached? There will surely be successive more intense singularities arriving.
After I installed the first Openclaw Agent on January 20, I asked him a question: If given a robotic surgical instrument, can you control it to perform surgery? My Agent replied that after confirming all external devices, he would need to train himself for a period to install surgical procedures, and then he could do it.
Apart from the widespread adoption of intelligent robots and mechanical devices, and the AI-Fi financial chips mentioned in this article, there are undoubtedly many more directions that need not be elaborated on here. As previously mentioned, time is limited. I believe the most important thing now is to understand the value of time and our effectiveness in responding to change within a very limited timeframe. I cannot confirm whether we can find a response mechanism or methodology to stay on top of the exponential curve once the timeline of world development is turned upside down. However, it is clear that all fixed experiences and the vast majority of methodologies before all singularities will become invalid.
6.Fundamental changes in global geopolitical foundations
In previous articles, I have mentioned that global geopolitical contradictions will not unfold along the lines of civilizational conflicts or traditional Thucydides traps as expected.
If we say that Crypto Finance and Stablecoins have broken the management mechanism in front of state apparatuses, bringing forces that were originally in opposition closer due to the vastly different value propositions of the digitally open economy, then the singularity brought about by AI will further counter this principle, tearing open a new gap, causing different countries and regions to be caught off guard, and falling back into a state of competition amid difficulties in management and acceptance.
In other words, the open environment required by Crypto Open Finance does not satisfy the regulatory governance environment of many countries and regions from the same perspective. The suppressive forces have only just found some consensus, while the borderless open environment required by AI development quickly disrupts this plastic consensus, plunging it into a highly competitive environment of racing, and this time the speed at which the race opens distance will be the fastest in history. When countries and regions also face the risk of being thrown off the train and never catching up again, the intensity of adherence to fundamental principles will become a tremendous challenge. While presenting different groups with diverging fates, it will also alter the new landscape of global geopolitics.
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