Unchained Podcast: How Nansen’s New Trading Agent Makes It Easier to Follow the Smart Money Onchain

Host: Laura Shin
Guest: Alex Svanvik, Co-Founder and CEO at Nansen
Release Date: January 21, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Unchained dives into the launch and vision of Nansen’s new AI-powered trading agent, which aims to revolutionize onchain trading by integrating discovery, research, and trade execution into one user-friendly interface. Alex Svanvik discusses how this tool will empower individual investors to follow and act on "smart money" movements with the ease and sophistication previously reserved for institutions—all with the help of artificial intelligence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The AI Trading Agent: What It Does and How It Works

• End-to-End Onchain Trading
  Traditionally, users relied on Nansen for analytics but went elsewhere to execute trades. The new agent allows everything—discovery, research, execution—inside one platform.

  "You can basically talk to Nansen and say, ‘I want to know what smart money is doing.’ ... And then you can say, 'Why don’t we put $100 into that?' ... It checks multiple Dex aggregators and gives you the best price."
  — Alex (03:09)

• Natural Language Interface
  Users interact in plain language to request research or trades, viewing the agent as a "copilot" or "concierge" (04:19).

  • Example: Ask the agent to "rebalance my portfolio," and it will suggest and trigger appropriate transactions for review.
  • The product currently includes a manual step for user execution, ensuring security and reducing risk of AI errors.

• Affordable, Transparent Fees
  Fees are kept low:

  • Pro subscribers: 10 basis points (0.1%)
  • Free users: 25 basis points (0.25%)
  • No hidden markups compared to aggregators—users often get better rates than on leading DEXs or exchanges (06:15).

User Experience & Evolution

• Moving Beyond Clunky Interfaces
  The agent removes many painful steps of onchain trading, such as managing multiple chains, apps, or wallets (13:20).

  “…the user experience of trading on chain is pretty garbage... What we're trying to do is to raise the bar on the user experience.”
  — Alex (14:23)

• Expanding Chains and Asset Classes

  • Launch began on Solana and Base (13:20).
  • Plans for rapid expansion to all major chains and asset types, including perps, NFTs, prediction markets, meme coins, and more (33:53).

  "Our vision is to allow people to trade everything on chain with AI. And when I say everything, I mean everything."
  — Alex (33:53)

• Voice as the Next Major UI
  Alex envisions a future where users can manage portfolios while “touching grass,” using AirPods to talk with their trading agent (36:45 & 39:11).

  “I get really excited about the idea that they can be outside in the real world touching grass but then also feel like they’re taking action on their portfolio...”
  — Alex (37:25)

Audience & Impact

• Who Uses Nansen?

  • Core audience: Individual, active onchain traders (“degenerates” or “degans”) rather than big institutional clients.
  • Users want an edge and are highly engaged during narrative cycles, e.g., DeFi Summer (17:29).

  "Crypto is super fragmented and there's a lot of information inefficiencies... if you actually make use of the information, you can have an edge."
  — Alex (19:56)

• Market Structure Implications

  • AI trading lowers barriers, making sophisticated strategies accessible to the masses—potentially “an Iron Man suit for retail” (25:54).
  • Anticipates a sharp rise in market activity, much as “vibe coding” increased programming engagement.
  • Emphasizes risk: With increased access, some will succeed spectacularly—many will lose (36:45, 58:40).

  "The process being lubricated by AI... it's just so simple for me to just say, 'hey, act on this now.'"
  — Alex (00:00 & 32:24)

Memorable Quotes

• On the Product Vision:

  "We're basically creating a new way to trade that's agentic, onchain, and integrated in one product."
  — Alex (03:09)

• On AI and Empowerment:

  "AI, the benefits of AI are going to accrue to individual investors more... It's giving retail investors an Iron Man suit."
  — Alex (25:54)

• On User Experience:

  "The user experience of trading on chain is pretty garbage... We're trying to raise the bar."
  — Alex (14:23)

• On the Future of Work & Trading:

  "I'm super bullish on Voice as a user interface. ...there's kind of another related concept which is a new way to work. ...I think there's an opportunity to create new ways of doing things."
  — Alex (39:11)

• On Risk and Responsibility:

  "You can also lose all your money when you trade crypto, just to be extremely clear."
  — Alex (36:45)

Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment | |----------|----------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:25 | Intro to Nansen’s new AI trading agent | | 04:09 | What users can ask the agent to do; copilot experience | | 06:15 | Fee structure and user sophistication | | 08:10 | Vision for trading agent evolution (copilot → autonomous) | | 13:20 | Chain support, chain abstraction, UX improvements | | 17:29 | Nansen’s target users and the “DeFi Summer” backstory | | 25:54 | Market impact: AI as retail’s “Iron Man suit” | | 33:53 | Agent expansion to perps, NFTs, all assets and chains | | 36:45 | Human stories: Success, FOMO, and breaking screen dependency | | 39:11 | Voice interfaces and transformative UI | | 43:19 | Security: Safeguards, agent autonomy, and the “agent vault” | | 49:53 | How to assess agent products and prompt them | | 54:39 | Thoughts on AI/crypto agent payment protocols | | 58:40 | 2026 predictions: More agentic trading, new paradigms |

Security and Best Practices

• Security-Limited Autonomy

  • Currently, users must manually execute all trades prepared by the agent, reducing risk (43:19).
  • Embedded wallets are self-custodial: users control private keys and can export them at will.

• The Next Security Frontier

  • True autonomous agent trading is hindered by unsolved challenges: how to prevent agent or key compromise and ensure agent integrity.
  • Alex envisions agent vaults where others could allocate funds to proven agents, but this requires robust, possibly decentralized infrastructure (45:35).

• Advice on Trying AI Agents

  • Start small; don't deposit significant capital before testing thoroughly (49:53).
  • Expect and demand transparency from vendors about benchmarks and agent reliability.
  • Brand and track record matter, but always "exercise critical thinking" (53:19).

Future Directions & Predictions (2026)

• Agentic Trading Growth

  • "A lot of people are going to start trading agentically."
  • Expect increased market participation—and notable volatility—with new users, strategies, and risk profiles.

• Interface & Workflow Shift

  • Agents will enable batch actions and previously impractical strategies ("rebalance my portfolio" becomes a one-line command).

• Betting on Agents and Creators

  • Points to the rise of “social coins” for open-source devs and “betting on” high-performing agent strategies (60:11).

• Acceleration of Innovation

  "So much stuff is going to be built and so many crazy things that are going to happen in 2026… put on your seatbelt because it’s going to be a fun year."
  — Alex (62:21)

Conclusion

Nansen’s new AI trading agent marks a notable leap toward democratizing sophisticated onchain trading. By lowering the friction and combining powerful analytics with seamless execution—plus a focus on user-driven security and a vision for future-proof interfaces—Alex and the Nansen team invite both current degens and new retail users to participate in the next evolution of crypto investing. Enhanced accessibility brings new risks, but also the promise of a more vibrant and innovative onchain economy.

"We're in a new world now and you might have to re-underwrite a lot of your mental models in the next weeks and months, partially because of AI."
— Alex (33:20)