This development is built on the Arbitrum network, a layer 2 of Ethereum.
The creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has warned about the risks of this type of practice.
The Talos project introduced the first cryptocurrency treasury managed entirely by artificial intelligence (AI), managing to reduce execution costs compared to systems managed by humans.
This protocol, which is still in the experimental phase, seeks to optimize treasury management in decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystemseliminating inefficiencies associated with “fragmented governance and slow decisions.”
Talos operates on Arbitrum, an Ethereum layer 2 solution, which enables fast and low-cost transactions. According to the team, this network offers a high capacity and low rate environment, ideal for frequent rebalancing, vault deployments and strategy migrations without exhausting resources.
Support for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard reduces development effort, accelerating the deployment of vaults and governance systems. Likewise, integration with protocols such as Camelot, GMX and Peapods allows for sophisticated multi-protocol strategies, powered by the liquidity of the Arbitrum ecosystem, explains the entity.
Talos is a set of smart contracts designed to evolve through external contributions. It is presented as an autonomous engine driven by its own participants, who can propose improvements to the protocol, treasury strategies or new governance mechanisms.
Talos’s treasury is diverse. With a total value of USD 2.8 million distributed in six active strategies on the Arbitrum networkhas had an annual weighted return of 22.9%, while the growth rate stands at 5.54%, accumulating a total growth of 4.55% in the last five days.
More than half of the funds (50.3%) are in Ethereum, totaling USD 1.4 million, although without yield (0% APY). The most profitable strategies for Talos are Camelot Liquidity (63% APY) and LPT-19NOV25 Allo Points Farm (46.67% APY), followed by Uniswap V2 Liquidity (13.5% APY), as seen below:
As explained by Arbitrum, Talos uses artificial intelligence to execute strategies autonomously, optimizing returns and strengthening capital security. The protocol aims to align management with the values of DeFi teamseliminating “operational bottlenecks”.
Beyond treasury growth, Talos says it is making progress towards opening up secure capital management to the broader ecosystemwhich will allow anyone (from DAOs and protocols to individual users) “to access the Talos vaults, earn with proven strategies, and benefit from the same AI-powered security and execution guarantees that govern the central treasury.”
However, Vitalik Buterin, co-creator of Ethereum, has warned about the risks of artificial intelligence in these types of applications. In a comment related to a data monitoring project, Buterin highlighted the vulnerabilities of AI agents, which, in his opinion, can be manipulated to leak sensitive informationCriptoNoticias reported.
The AI-controlled treasury is presented in a context in which hundreds of companies around the world, and dedicated to different areas, have opened their own digital treasuries to make room for bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), as well as other altcoins.
This has translated into billions of dollars allocated by companies, entities and institutions, which began to safeguard value through digital assets.