Author: Gary Yang, Founding Partner of StarrySky Capital

Since Openclaw began to surge in mid-January, except for the four days at the Consensus conference in Hong Kong, I have almost declined all foreign affairs activities, including online spaces and 90% of offline meetings, using only code and Agent conversations to face the largest singularity change in human history so far. Similarly, I have tried to save time in this article by summarizing the current issues in the shortest possible form, as time is extremely limited for everyone post-singularity.

Written in London on February 24, 2026

tl;dr

1. The engineering significance and historical significance of Openclaw

2. AI-Fi and financial chips

3. Disruption of global finance and collapse of social management

4. Panic of non-consensus caused by multi-level information asymmetry

5. The sequence of singularities after the singularity

6. Essential changes in the global geopolitical foundation

The engineering significance and historical significance of Openclaw

The engineering significance of Openclaw:

The essence of Openclaw is not a set of intelligent algorithms, but a framework of intelligent tools based on memory file integration. I have seen many statements online that I think are not precise enough, so I summarize it into seven levels:

• Level 1 Infrastructure Layer (Infra): The bottom layer of the entire architecture, such as hardware devices or cloud services
• Level 2 System Layer (OS): The operating systems including Linux, IOS, Windows, etc.
• Level 3 Environment Layer (DevOps): The CI/CD layer above the system layer, like Github, with high deployment specificity
• Level 4 Skills Layer: The organ layer, which includes the brain and limbs of AI, literacy, and various capabilities, where LLM is loaded at this layer
• Level 5 Memory Layer (md): This is the core value of Openclaw and the essence that distinguishes it from LLM tools
• Level 6 Functional Layer (Jobs): The Agent layer, focusing on the division of labor given to Agents, from AI tools to one-person company management
• Level 7 Task Layer (Apps): The daily task logic and queuing tasks of Agents/Bots with different functions

As the Openclaw official says, Markdown memory files are the core value, and the simple refinement of the memory layer enables AI Agents to possess the capability for long-term engagement. Just a few kilobytes of data can push significant changes at this historical juncture.

The historical significance of Openclaw:

From a mesoscopic perspective, Openclaw will intensify the exponentially explosive productivity of AI, changing all industries globally. It will no longer be just about translation, law, design, and coding—rapid replacements and upgrades will also occur in complex non-standard jobs such as auditing, finance, engineering management, and business management. Similarly, as robots rapidly advance, their integration with microcontrollers will easily take over most physical labor jobs. From a macroscopic perspective, the singularity triggered by Openclaw will become a dividing line transitioning from human labor to silicon-based labor. In a time frame faster than we can imagine, the place of humans in natural society will be entirely transformed, and the foundation of civilization will fully enter the next stage.

Returning to reality in Q1 2026, the small working cluster of 12 bots built through Linux has already provided versatility for collaboration across various industries. Simply put, Agents are classified into three categories: one for collaboration and coding, one for information and thinking, and one for business and finance. For over a month, I, like many others, have switched between excitement and fear, and in no time, all business models will be upgraded and disrupted.

AI-Fi and financial chips

At the Hong Kong conference two weeks ago, I spoke with Mr. Shen about my article on the principles of financial circuits and Web3 economic models that I wrote three years ago>. I excitedly mentioned that what I thought would take 30 years to achieve, could now be realized this year with the support of Openclaw.

The principle of financial circuits refers to the rapid iterative development of financial digital derivatives due to the emergence of Web3 and Crypto, evolving beyond just basic functions to become complex system combinations, forming integrated products similar to circuit boards or even chips, thereby possessing financial effects unattainable by single functions, with financial chips being the culmination of this process.

When AI-driven algorithmic components can make effective, flexible, and long-term self-evolving decision combinations in an instant based on vast amounts of data, we can encapsulate them in Crypto's Smart Contracts on DeFi, resembling virtual digital chips like FPGAs or microcontrollers, becoming a super financial digital decision-making entity. This digital decision-making entity, the financial chip, once formed, will no longer rely on human intervention for decisions, achieving a positive balance between Key/Gas costs and asset profitability, becoming a financial product with independently intelligent production value.

Compared to Web4.0 or DeFi3.0, I believe AI-Fi provides a more precise description. In today's environment, where AI rapidly drives Agents to form independent working capabilities, our understanding of financial products and the financial industry should undergo a thorough qualitative change. The inertia of Wall Street and traditional finance will be completely subverted. Single-algorithm quantitative strategies will be historically eliminated, and the key to winning in financial assets lies not only in the ability to process massive data and parameter changes but also in the rapid adjustment capability of continuously innovating algorithms and strategies; only the super-intelligent financial assets wrapped in AI Agent + Crypto Smart Contract can adapt to the financial environment of the next era.

Disruption of global finance and collapse of social management

At the end of last year, I mentioned in an article about the explosion of DeFi2.0 under the disorderly restructuring of 2026&g; the “strong end of traditional financial inertia and the social failure under strong data regulation.” Simply put, the mere upgrade of digital production relationships through Crypto poses a tremendous challenge to the existing environment.

Following Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, also released a press release on January 19, 2026, confirming that the NYSE is developing a tokenized securities platform supporting 24×7 trading, planning to seek SEC approval to promote this service. It can be said that in the face of last year’s impact from Crypto digitalization, New York's response efficiency and practical implementation are still commendable, far ahead of all other global hesitant attitudes. However, even so, the inertia of policies and the understanding of the majority of people still struggle to truly adapt to this change.

What is alarming is that the destructive power of AI digital productivity upgrades has escalated the tearing apart of traditional finance and society by Crypto’s digital production relations by an order of magnitude. If last year's situation can be described as the strong end and failure, then this year signifies complete disruption and disintegration. Unlike any previous historical change, the exponential pull brought by AI + Crypto offers no space or opportunity to revert to dogmatic principles—Go Fast or Go Home.

Panic of non-consensus caused by multi-level information asymmetry

Interestingly and sadly, in such an environment, all people not only repeatedly switch between FOMO and FUD, but the reasons are completely different. The vast majority are seeking confidence based on the segment they focus on, yet they clearly know that it is futile in the face of such a tsunami of AI + Crypto.

As seen in the Consensus conference in Hong Kong in early February 2026, it was a conference completely devoid of consensus: bull-bear consensus, regulatory consensus, credit consensus, value consensus; the only consensus reached is that the AI disruption following Openclaw has led participants in the Crypto Consensus conference to identify a mismatched consensus.

Due to the simultaneous occurrence of multi-level structural changes, people from different industries across various countries and regions obtain, understand, digest, and feedback information at completely different speeds. Consequently, the world will enter a phase of ultra-fast development and complete chaotic non-consensus in 2026. The speed of technological progress and the essence of culture differ, resulting in panic of non-consensus already affecting various financial assets and future expectations in Q1 2026; while similar, the level of chaotic energy has far surpassed the period of the Great Depression in 1929 and the years surrounding it. Moreover, the disruptive force and speed of AI + Crypto surpass those of the stages of industrial automation and electronicization, thus changing the position of gold and safe-haven assets from that of the 20th century. Currently, we not only need to consider risk mitigation in tumultuous times but also think about the risks of being slightly thrown off the ride and never being able to catch up again; merely mitigating risk in an environment of exponential disruption constitutes significant risk in itself.

The sequence of singularities after the singularity

Under an exponentially developing curve, what happens once the critical singularity is broke through? It will undoubtedly lead to one after another increasingly dense singularity.

After I set up the first Openclaw Agent on January 20, I asked it a question: assume you are given a robotic surgical instrument; can you operate it to perform surgery? My Agent replied that after confirming all external devices, it would first need to undergo a period of simulated training to program itself for the surgical drive before it could proceed.

Beyond the comprehensive popularization of intelligent robots and mechanical devices, along with the AI-Fi financial chips mentioned in this article, I believe there are numerous other directions that I will refrain from discussing here. As mentioned before, time is limited, and I think the most important thing now is to understand the value of time and our response efficiency to changes within the very limited time available. I cannot confirm whether we will find a response mechanism or methodology to keep ourselves from being thrown off the exponential curve once the timeline of world development turns vertical; however, it is clear that all established experiences and the vast majority of methodologies prior to all singularities will become ineffective.

Essential changes in the global geopolitical foundation

In previous articles, I have mentioned that the global geopolitical contradictions will not unfold along the expected path of civilizational clashes or traditional Thucydides traps as historical experiences suggest.

If we say that Crypto Finance and Stablecoins have broken the management mechanisms in front of national machinery, as the value propositions of digital open economies are too divergent, bringing together once opposing forces; then the singularity of AI will counter this principle, further tearing open a new gap that leaves different countries and regions caught off-guard, falling back into a state of competition amidst the difficulty of management and acceptance of this disruption.

In other words, the open environment that Crypto Open Finance demands does not satisfy the governance framework of many countries and regions, where restraining forces barely found some consensus, while the environment required by AI development for unrestricted openness rapidly dismantles this plastic consensus, entering a highly competitive environment characterized by a race, of which the speed at which distances are created this time will be the fastest in history. When countries and regions also face the risk of being left behind and unable to catch up, the intensity of adherence to fundamental principles will become a significant challenge, creating divergent destinies for different populations and altering the geopolitical landscape of the world.

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