From know your customer (KYC) to ‘know your agent’ (KYA)

Published 2025-12-09

Just as humans need credit scores to get loans, agents will need cryptographically signed credentials to transact — linking the agent to its principal, its constraints, and its liability.

Source

Verdict

openFewer than two later editions exist yet (D33).

A trend is graded on whether the publisher keeps it, never as a hit or a miss (D6, D33).

All captured fields

rank: 35
section: Crypto
subject: Know your agent (KYA) credentials for AI agents
author: Sean Neville
confidence: high
note: Guest contributor, not a16z staff (bio on the page: cofounder of Circle; CEO of Catena Labs). Part 3 says it includes 'a few guest contributors'.