Using MCP with Web3: How to secure agents making blockchain transactions

At Google Cloud, we sit at a unique intersection of two transformative technologies: AI and Web3. The rise of AI agents capable of interacting with blockchains opens up a world of automated financial strategies, fast payments, and more complex scenarios like executing complex DeFi operations and bridging assets across multiple chains. 

However, the practical viability of this new paradigm hinges on who hosts the agent, and who holds the private key to the operations.

The core issue is simple. Since most cryptocurrency users are not going to run their own secure servers to manage agent keys, providers are likely to turn to one of two primary architectures: A custodial model where users delegate funds to a third-party agent that controls a private key, and a non-custodial model where the agent only crafts transactions for the user to sign with its own private key.

Most of today’s examples showcase an ...