Markets Outlook – Nansen Unveils Plans for AI Trading Platform

Podcast: CoinDesk – Markets Outlook
Episode Title: Nansen Unveils Plans for AI Trading Platform
Date: December 3, 2025

Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with Alex Svanevik, CEO of Nansen, a leading on-chain data analytics platform, at an industry event in the UAE. The discussion centers on Nansen's forthcoming AI-driven trading platform, the evolution of agentic trading, challenges with AI hallucinations and data security, and the growing crypto scene in the Middle East. The CoinDesk hosts dig into the potential and pitfalls of integrating AI with on-chain trading, offering exclusive insights ("alpha") on where the industry might be heading.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Future of Trading: Agentic AI Platforms

[00:27-02:31]

• Agentic Trading Concept:

  • Alex predicts a new era where trading will be conversational rather than reliant on dashboards:

    “People are actually going to trade in a different way going forward... Instead of having lots of dashboards and charts... you just talk to an agent that you can work with end to end on discovery, due diligence, and ultimately to actually execute trades.” (Alex, 00:37)

  • Nansen’s new product will allow users to execute on-chain trades via the same AI-driven interface traditionally used for analytics.

• From Analytics to Execution:

  • Nansen is transitioning from a pure analytics provider to a full-fledged on-chain trading platform.

2. How the AI Companion Works & What Sets Nansen Apart

[01:36-03:18]

• Talk-to-Trade Functionality:

  • The platform will enable users to speak directly to an AI agent, asking about smart money trends, address activity, token behavior, and even instructing it to build portfolios.

    "You can just talk to the agent... what's smart money buying? … within the same user experience, you can actually pull the trigger." (Alex, 01:55)

• Unique Selling Points:

  • Fully on-chain, agentic platform.
  • Self-custodial: "We don't have the private key, we're not a custodian... you can export the funds if you want to." (Alex, 04:13)
  • Leveraging Nansen’s proprietary on-chain data to offer differentiated, actionable insights.

• Broader Impact:

  • The paradigm promises to make trading more accessible for non-experts, drawing an analogy to how AI has democratized coding:

    “Agentic trading is going to... make investing trading accessible to 100 times more people…if you get them on chain with their own wallet and like a Dex, it’s actually extremely confusing… what does trading look like in 2030 and how do we build that user experience today?” (Alex, 03:18–04:13)

3. Challenges: AI Hallucinations & Security Risks

[05:01-07:49]

• Concerns About Hallucination:

  • Hosts raise the risk of AI agents making errors or “hallucinating,” which could inform faulty trades.

    “How do you think about these AI agents potentially hallucinating, giving incorrect information that then informs someone's investment thesis?” (Host B, 05:07)

  • Alex outlines ongoing quality assurance, including various “evals” (evaluations) for hallucination, accuracy, and form.

    “You have to quality assure this stuff. You have to run evals... hallucinations. Does it understand the trade intent?... We have our own ground truth dataset that we run evals against.” (Alex, 05:16)

• Defense Against Data Manipulation & Attacks:

  • The discussion extends to the threat of adversarial data manipulation (e.g., gaming the system), the need for increased security, and certifications.

    “Anyone who does anything with AI has to acknowledge that it introduces a new threat vector... So we run evals, we've invested a lot more in security, we're getting new certifications…” (Alex, 07:01)

• A Candid Take on the AI Trading Landscape:

  • Alex predicts most new agentic trading products will disappoint:

    "Frankly, most of them are going to suck. If we're being honest. People are going to lose money and they're going to be frustrated..." (Alex, 05:49)

4. Nansen’s Footprint in the Middle East

[07:49-08:28]

• Strategic Importance of the UAE:
  • Nansen is bullish on the Middle East, with users and staff already established there.

    "We've actually had some team members relocate to this region and so we're super bullish on the region overall. I engage with some of the regulators here and they're incredibly forward leaning and intelligent... maybe some of the best regulators in the world are based here.” (Alex, 08:01)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We're not robots." (Host B, 00:23) // "Proof of human." (Host C, 00:24)

  • Lighthearted icebreaker at the top as they meet Alex in person.

• “Agentic trading is going to make existing traders better at trading... but it's also going to make investing trading accessible to 100 times more people.” (Alex, 03:18)

• "If we're being honest. People are going to lose money and they're going to be frustrated because there's hallucination going on... our bet is that because we have the best data and we have a great AI team... people are going to want to use our product." (Alex, 05:49)

• “Anyone who does anything with AI has to acknowledge that it introduces a new threat vector in terms of attacks.” (Alex, 07:01)

• On UAE regulators:

  "I think maybe some of the best regulators in the world are based here." (Alex, 08:15)

Timestamps: Key Segments

• 00:27 – Agentic trading explained / New product sneak peek
• 01:36 – Voice-command, agent-powered trading; talk-to-trade concept
• 03:18 – How agentic trading broadens accessibility
• 05:01 – AI hallucination risks and Nansen’s QA process
• 06:20 – Security vulnerabilities: data manipulation, gaming the system
• 07:49 – Nansen's presence and optimism in the UAE and broader region

Conclusion

In this episode, Alex Svanevik provides a behind-the-scenes look at Nansen's vision for the next generation of on-chain trading, powered by conversational AI agents. With a candid assessment of both the opportunities and hazards of AI in crypto markets—and a nod to the strategic opportunities in the Middle East—listeners get a primer on where leading-edge fintech is heading as 2026 approaches.