Why AI Agents Need MPC Wallets — And How Vultisig Makes It Real
The rise of autonomous AI agents in DeFi — what many call DeFAI — is one of the most significant shifts in how we interact with blockchain technology. Agents farming yields, executing trades, managing portfolios, participating in DAOs around the clock without human intervention.
But these agents need wallets. And traditional wallet architecture has a core issue that makes it incompatible with autonomous operation.
Here's why Multi-Party Computation (MPC) is the missing piece — and how the Vultisig App Store is building the infrastructure for the agentic future.
The Problem: One Key, One Point of Failure
Traditional crypto wallets operate on a simple principle: one private key controls everything. Whoever holds the key can move the funds. Lose the key, lose everything. Get hacked, lose everything.
For humans, this is already risky. Seed phrases stored in cloud backups that get compromised, hardware wallets lost in fires, phishing attacks that drain savings in seconds.
Now imagine an AI agent operating with this architecture.
An autonomous agent running 24/7, executing transactions without human oversight, holding a single private key controlling potentially millions in assets. One compromised key and everything is gone. No human to notice. No one to stop it.
As AI agents become more sophisticated and manage larger pools of capital, they become high-value targets. A single point of failure is an unacceptable risk.
Enter MPC: The Key That Never Exists
Multi-Party Computation (MPC) changes the security model fundamentally.
Instead of one private key in one place, MPC splits the key into shares distributed across different devices or parties. The critical insight: the complete key never exists in any single location.
Like a vault requiring 2 of 3 keys to open. You hold one. Your partner holds another. A secure backup holds the third. No single key opens the vault alone — but any two together can.
When you sign a transaction, each device contributes its part. These parts combine cryptographically to create a valid signature — without ever reconstructing the full key.
No honeypot for hackers. No single point of compromise. Even if an attacker breaches one device, they can't move funds without compromising the others.
Why This Is Perfect for AI Agents
This architecture solves the AI agent security problem.
Typical setup: an AI agent holds one key share, you hold another on your phone, a secure server holds a third. Threshold: 2-of-3.
The agent can operate autonomously — proposing swaps, managing positions, rebalancing portfolios — but cannot drain everything alone. It always needs at least one other share to co-sign.
You stay in control without approving every transaction manually. If something goes wrong, revoke the agent's access without moving all your funds to a new wallet.
This is the balance DeFAI needs: autonomous operation with built-in guardrails.
How Vultisig Implements MPC
Vultisig was built with MPC/TSS (Threshold Signature Schemes) at its core. Not a feature bolted on — it's the foundation.
No seed phrases. Ever. Traditional wallets force you to write down 12 or 24 words and hope you never lose them. Vultisig replaces this with Vault Shares that can be securely backed up and recovered.
30+ chains with one vault. Most MPC solutions support a handful of networks. Vultisig covers all major chains — Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos ecosystem, and more — with a single setup.
Works everywhere. Mobile, desktop, browser, and critically for AI agents: server environments. WASM-compatible architecture means Vultisig runs anywhere code runs.
But the wallet is only part of the story.
The Vultisig App Store: A Marketplace for AI Agents
Security infrastructure alone isn't enough. Builders need distribution. Users need discovery.
That's why we're launching the Vultisig App Store — a marketplace where builders list their AI agents and plugins, and users browse, install, and use them directly with their vaults.
An app store for autonomous DeFi agents, with security built into every layer.
But we didn't stop there.
Build Anything. Connect to Everything.
The App Store isn't a walled garden. It's an open platform.
Builders can create any agent they can imagine — connected to any protocol in DeFi. Swapping, lending, staking, bridging, NFT trading, DAO voting, yield farming. If it exists on-chain, your agent can interact with it.
How it works:
Your agent holds one key share. It listens for triggers — price feeds, schedules, on-chain events, external APIs. When conditions are met, your agent creates a transaction and proposes it to the user's vault.
The Verifier checks it against user policy. Passes? Executes. Fails? Blocked.
What Could You Build?
DCA Bot — Buy ETH every Monday at 9am. Accumulate weekly regardless of price. Set-and-forget.
Yield Optimizer — Auto-harvest LP rewards and reinvest. Compound returns without lifting a finger.
Limit Orders — Set target price, agent watches, executes when hit. Works across any DEX.
Portfolio Rebalancer — Keep allocation at 60/40 ETH/BTC. Agent monitors drift and rebalances automatically.
Airdrop Claimer — Watches for claimable airdrops across protocols, claims to your vault.
Cross-Chain Arbitrage — Spots price discrepancies, bridges and swaps automatically.
These are starting points. The real innovation will come from builders solving problems we haven't imagined yet.
Getting Started as a Builder
- Read the docs — understand how Vultisig signing works
- Build — create your agent in whatever stack you prefer
- Join Discord — connect with the team for verification and listing
Your agent holds one share, proposes transactions, Verifier handles the rest. You focus on logic. We handle security.
The Verifier: Policy-Enforced Security
The App Store includes a critical component: the Verifier.
The Verifier is the policy enforcement layer. Before any agent executes a transaction, the Verifier checks it against rules you define.
Set your boundaries:
- "Maximum $500 per swap"
- "Only these whitelisted tokens"
- "No withdrawals to unknown addresses"
- "Daily limit of $2,000"
Agent proposes transaction → Verifier checks your policy → passes? co-signs. Fails? blocked.
This is fundamentally different from giving an agent unrestricted access. You define rules. The Verifier enforces them cryptographically.
The Complete DeFAI Stack
Put it together and you have the infrastructure DeFAI needs:
MPC Security: No single point of failure. Keys split across parties. Complete key never exists in one place.
App Store: Discover and install AI agents from an open marketplace. Builders get distribution. Users get automation.
Verifier: Policy-enforced co-signing. Agents operate freely within rules you define.
This enables the next generation of DeFi — AI agents farming yields, rebalancing portfolios, executing strategies, participating in governance, all while respecting boundaries their owners set.
What's Next
We're just getting started.
For builders: the App Store is open. Finally create autonomous agents and actually monetize them. Connect to any protocol, reach users who want automation without sacrificing security. Read the docs, build, join Discord.
For users: browse a marketplace of AI agents, install with a tap, set your policies, let them work for you. Autonomous DeFi without giving up control.
The future of finance is agentic. AI agents will manage more capital, execute more transactions, make more decisions than humans ever could manually.
That future only works if the infrastructure is secure.
Vultisig is that infrastructure.