AI and Trading: Why Human Decisions Remain Central in Crypto Trading

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing numerous industries, and the question of its role is being asked everywhere: Will it replace humans? In the cryptocurrency world, this discussion is particularly evident through AI-powered trading bots and agent-based trading systems. However, Alex Svanevik, CEO and co-founder of Nansen, emphasizes that AI in trading does not serve as a replacement but as a complement to human intelligence. In an interview with BeInCrypto, the executive explains how this technology will shape the future of crypto analysis—and where its undeniable limits lie.

What AI Can Do in Crypto Trading: Nansen’s New On-Chain Trading Feature

On January 21, Nansen announced a groundbreaking expansion: an AI-supported on-chain trading feature that transforms the company from a pure analysis platform into an integrated trading tool. The innovation leverages Nansen’s extensive database of over 500 million tagged wallets, allowing users to manage portfolios in real time, interpret on-chain signals live, and receive data-driven trading suggestions—all without switching platforms.

Nansen calls this concept “Vibe Trading”: traders can effortlessly go from analytical insight directly to executing trades. The technology processes data at a scale impossible for human analysts. It monitors hundreds of millions of wallets simultaneously, tracks cross-chain movements, and recognizes patterns that remain hidden to the human eye. This is undoubtedly a significant advantage for data-driven decisions in the dynamic crypto market.

The Limits of Artificial Intelligence: Why Responsibility Remains a Human Matter

While AI analysis in trading is becoming increasingly comprehensive, an important question arises: Can it bear responsibility for decisions? Svanevik draws a clear line here. While AI can identify patterns, probabilities, and scenarios, analyzing what has happened in the past or what might happen in the future, it can never assume personal risk tolerance, value judgments, or ultimate responsibility if a trade goes wrong.

The CEO emphasizes a key point: credibility and trust will always rest with humans, regardless of how advanced AI models become. In crypto trading, where extreme volatility and high-risk assets are the norm, this human component becomes even more critical. While one might think that more comprehensive AI tools could weaken critical thinking, Svanevik argues the opposite: “Good AI” provides more clues and compels traders to think more critically about execution, not less.

A fundamental principle is: neither AI nor humans should be blindly trusted. The decisive measure is the consistency and stability of analyses over a longer period.

Trust in AI-Driven Analysis: How Traders Can Recognize Quality in Trading

How can quality be assessed in a crypto market dominated by AI? Svanevik suggests a practical test: traders should ask themselves questions relevant to their specific situation and then check whether the AI-generated answers are helpful, understandable, and actionable. From his experience, most people can quickly recognize good quality when confronted with it.

This underscores why human persuasion remains irreplaceable in trading. While AI might develop a similar form of judgment—albeit in a very different way than humans—it fundamentally differs: AI can process live data from various fields perhaps better than any individual human, but it never bears personal responsibility for the consequences.

The future of crypto trading, therefore, does not lie in replacing human decisions with AI but in their symbiotic collaboration. AI acts as a powerful analysis tool—it makes patterns, probabilities, and insights visible like never before. Nonetheless, humans remain central to risk assessment, responsibility, and final judgment. Users must make their own decisions and bear responsibility for their outcomes.

As AI-supported analysis becomes increasingly standard in trading, the importance of trust also grows—especially for platforms that can continuously demonstrate high-quality insights. At the same time, responsibility remains with humans: they decide what matters and accept the consequences of their decisions. AI supports these processes but does not replace them.