Maybe they can bootstrap their own crypto? Or just open Monero wallets. If we're at the point where they can imitate voices and human behaviour, they might even pass KYC checks after stealing someones information.

As soon as AI gets out of hand and starts randomly hacking things we're probably out of luck anyways.

“If the rise of an all-powerful artificial intelligence is inevitable, well it stands to reason that when they take power, our digital overlords will punish those of us who did not help them get there. [...]” - Bertram Gilfoyle

They just need to earn their own crypto somehow. The AI could do then quite a bit even though they do not have Personhood, which could include lobbying politicians for Personhood.

What's to stop them? A wallet is just a keypair.

I don't see what relevance that has other than making it easier to scam people irreversably?