How AI is Changing Work and Assets: A Special Discussion with Hirozo Kano and Keisuke Tanaka at bitFlyer｜WebX2026

How AI is Changing Work and Assets: A Special Discussion with Hirozo Kano and Keisuke Tanaka at bitFlyer

Hirozo Kano × Keisuke Tanaka

On July 13, 2026, a special edition of bitFlyer Crypto Radio was held on the CRYL stage at WebX 2026. The theme was "Preparing for the Dramatic Changes of the AI Era: New Perspectives on Work and Assets," featuring Hirozo Kano, CEO of bitFlyer Holdings, and Keisuke Tanaka, who led the investment division at Goldman Sachs for 17 years. The moderator was Akira Kanemitsu, the company's Executive Officer and CPO. All three share a common background from Goldman Sachs, and they exchanged candid insights from a practitioner's perspective on human value in the AI era, transformations in the financial industry, and personal asset formation.

AI Changing Work and the Remaining Value of Humans

At the beginning of the session, Kanemitsu asked, "With the evolution of generative AI, it can now handle research, document creation, and programming in a short time. What jobs and skills will enhance human value?" Kano opened the discussion from his position of developing in-house applications using AI.
Hirozo Kano
I believe AI is a revolution that occurs once every thousand years. Among humanity's inventions, AI stands out because it can autonomously and decentralized improve itself. As this happens, the jobs that engineers and designers used to do will increasingly be encroached upon. Furthermore, I believe that in the near future, an economic sphere will emerge where AI creates services on its own and exchanges money among AI.
We have entered an era where we must seriously consider what humans can add value to society. I think logical thinking skills have already become obsolete, and no matter how smart a person is, they cannot compete with AI in terms of comprehensive ability. What remains for humans is "kindness." The ability to look someone in the eye, to talk, to laugh, and to express emotions. Additionally, the pathway to verbalize what one imagines in their mind and instruct AI, as well as the creativity to "create from 0 to 1." One cannot create what they cannot imagine.
Keisuke Tanaka
At my investment firm, we took stock of all the work we did from morning to evening during our Goldman Sachs days and tried to see if it could be replaced by AI. Now, about 80% of it can be done. I tell my team to "go to primary sources, meet people." The information that LLM can collect is only what is available on the web, and it cannot access information that is not there.
I believe there are three abilities that remain for humans: the ability to pose questions to AI, the ability to assess the accuracy of AI's answers, and the ability to take responsibility. These three are essential.

Transformation in the Financial Industry and the Value of Primary Information

Tanaka discussed specific examples from his firm's operations regarding how AI is changing the financial landscape and what remains.
Keisuke Tanaka
Traditionally, financial work involved reading news, analyzing corporate information, calculating in Excel, and summarizing in PowerPoint for presentations. This process took up 70% of the time, but now 99% of it is no longer needed. It has been replaced by AI.
However, LLM can only handle information available on the web. Since the advent of AI, industry seniors have started to hoard information. For example, two years ago, the Japanese office market was said to be "finished," but in reality, companies were rushing to enter Azabudai Hills, and there was no vacancy, which was information circulating only among professionals. Those who made office transactions at that time enjoyed a 20-30% price increase two years later. Unless you directly hear opinions from those at the forefront, you cannot know such information. The ability to communicate and the social skills to enter communities ultimately become the most important aspects.
Note: LLM (Large Language Model) learns from publicly available information on the web, so it fundamentally cannot access closed communities or oral information from the field. In fields with high information asymmetry, such as finance and real estate, this limitation directly impacts investment returns.
Hirozo Kano
Traders will disappear. Researchers will also be gone. The added value of traders lies in research, but once AI can perform that research, the fair value from public information will be quickly reached, eliminating the added value of traders. Tasks that involve pressing buttons can also be replaced by programs. What remains will be the heads who take responsibility. Ultimately, what remains in finance will be "sales," which requires kindness and love.

Personal Asset Formation and the Use of AI

In an era where AI can instantly provide investment information, how should individuals approach asset formation? Tanaka presented a phased framework.
Keisuke Tanaka
Asset formation goals vary greatly from person to person. The first step is to clearly imagine "what level of assets you aim for." Next, consider the phases. Until you accumulate surplus funds of 50 million yen, it is mentally more stable to steadily invest in an index. If you want to aim for higher returns from there, you can combine individual stocks and cryptocurrencies. Understanding your own risk tolerance is also important.
Regarding AI, it is dangerous to rely entirely on it. Just as one ages if they stop running, if you delegate your thinking to AI, your judgment will deteriorate. The correct way to use AI is as a sounding board to validate hypotheses, rather than asking AI, "What should I buy?" You should present your hypotheses to AI and use it to supplement the missing parts. Through this repetition, you can empower yourself.
Note: Tanaka views the AI bubble as follows: "When stock prices crash, other assets also fall simultaneously," and emphasizes the importance of securing liquidity and conducting prior research on contrarian investments. Regarding cryptocurrencies, he analyzed that as the industry matures, sharp talents moving into the AI field is a healthy change, and that corrections will occur cyclically.

bitFlyer's AI Strategy and the Future of Stablecoins

When Kanemitsu asked about the intersection of services provided by bitFlyer and AI, Kano discussed the new UI announced that day and future prospects.
Hirozo Kano
Today at the WebX venue, we announced bitFlyer's new UI. We have clearly separated the beginner-friendly and professional versions (bitFlyer Lightning), significantly improving usability. We actively used AI in development, but it does not work well fully automatically. There are still many parts where humans are involved at the pixel level. However, this is a discussion for the current phase, and as AI becomes smarter, we will enter an era where customized UIs can be easily created.
Internally, we continue to say, "We will become an AI company." Not only engineers but everyone on the business side and compliance must use AI. The salary difference between those who can use AI and those who cannot will become significant in the future.
Regarding stablecoins, I envision an ecosystem where AI agents issue tasks to each other and use stablecoins for settlements on the blockchain. A world will come where services like Amazon and Facebook, combining AI and blockchain, operate autonomously among AIs. It is said that the competition for LLM development costs about 40 billion yen per model, and it will eventually converge somewhere, but I am convinced that the "fusion of AI and blockchain" that lies ahead will become the next major industry.

Session Summary

Finally, when Kanemitsu asked, "What is one thing you want everyone to implement starting tomorrow?" the two concluded with contrasting yet insightful words.
Tanaka said, "Belong to a community as close to you as possible and continue to be a player. The level of the community will rise with your level. Ultimately, that will be your passport to a place where only the highest-level information is exchanged."
Kano concluded with a comparison to Bitcoin, saying,
"I have been involved with Bitcoin since it was 100 yen. Everyone says, 'I wish I had bought it back then.' AI is the same. Start using Claude Code right now, create something. Not tomorrow, but today. That is the only difference between innovators and non-innovators."
Even in an era where AI replaces all information processing, the ability to take action to gather primary information, the human power to root in communities, and the drive to "do it now" are what determine individual value. The three shared this recognition in that regard.