Building AI-Native Blockchain Infrastructure with Kite AI's Lei Lei

In episode four of Layer One, The Block’s Kelvin Sparks and Hypha Founder Steven Gates were joined by Kite AI’s Head of Business Development and Strategy, Lei Lei, to discuss why AI agents need dedicated blockchain infrastructure rather than general purpose blockchains. The trio also touch on the recent hype around Claude Code, why enterprise giants are panicking about AI disruption, and how the X-402 payments protocol did $600M in volume last year.

OUTLINE
00:00 – Introduction
01:13 – Claude Code
04:26 – Why Avalanche
09:40 – X-402 Explained
13:01 – General Purpose Chains
19:37 – Swarms Gone Rogue
26:53 – Crypto-Native Enterprises?
30:03 – $600M & Counting
37:04 – Big Name Backers
42:07 – Winners & Losers
47:30 – Outro

Lei Lei – ⁠
⁠⁠⁠KiteAI – ⁠⁠
Steven Gates –
Kelvin Sparks –

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