The Rollup How AI Agents Are Replacing Hedge Fund Managers with Pei Chen of Theoriq
Dec 20, 2025
Pei Chen, CEO of Theoriq Foundation, leads the charge in AI-managed DeFi products like the Alpha Vault, which boasts impressive returns. He discusses the shift from AI demos to actual capital management, tackling the trust issues surrounding letting AI handle money. The conversation highlights the disruption of white-collar jobs, particularly hedge fund managers, as well as the implications of AI building AI. Pei's insights about the future roles of engineers and the operationalization of AI are both thought-provoking and timely.
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Enforce Policy Cages Before Deployment
- Limit agent actions with verifiable guardrails to protect sensitive assets like on-chain capital.
- Design policy cages that define what agents can and cannot touch before giving them control.
Agents As An Intelligence Stack
- Theoric builds an intelligence stack where specialized agents coordinate as economic actors.
- Agents register, discover, communicate, execute and pay each other to complete complex DeFi tasks.
From Capability To Operational Trust
- 2025 saw AI move from capability to operational reality and begin managing real economic activity.
- The main new question shifted from 'can AI do it?' to 'should we trust AI with capital and contracts?'