AI agents will become a "killer use case" for blockchain payments: Franklin Templeton analysis
The digital asset sector is on the verge of a fundamental shift: in my opinion, agentic artificial intelligence could become the "killer use case" that brings cryptocurrency payments into the mainstream. Franklin Templeton's Head of Digital Assets and Innovation, Sandy Kaul, presented a compelling argument for why blockchain infrastructure, rather than traditional financial systems, will become the foundation for transactions conducted by AI agents.
The key idea is simple: the classic payment system, with its fees, settlement delays, and need for human involvement, is unsuitable for automated actions. AI agents are not just chatbots. They are capable of independently executing a sequence of operations: purchasing access to data, paying for computations, calling a paid API. This requires an environment with low fees, high throughput, and instant settlement. Blockchains, unlike Visa or Mastercard, can record and settle transactions simultaneously, without intermediaries.
The Scale of the Future Market
The forecasts are impressive. According to Bain & Company, by 2030, AI agents could account for 15% to 25% of all e-commerce sales in the United States. McKinsey & Company's estimate is even more ambitious: agentic commerce will "orchestrate" between $3 and $5 trillion in global consumer transactions. This is a colossal volume that will require an entirely new infrastructure.
Which Networks Are Ready for the Load
Franklin Templeton conducted a comparative analysis of the throughput of leading blockchains. Bitcoin demonstrates only about 7 TPS (transactions per second), while Ethereum achieves roughly 75 TPS. For comparison, Visa processes between 1,700 and 10,000 TPS in normal mode, but final settlement takes 1–3 business days. Against this backdrop, high-performance networks stand out: Aptos can handle up to 12,933 TPS, Solana up to 6,284 TPS, and BNB Chain up to 3,252 TPS.
Kaul directly states that the growth of agent payments will increase demand for the native assets of the networks where these operations are conducted. SOL and ETH are cited as examples. This is a logical conclusion: if transactions are massively processed on the Solana network, demand for SOL to pay fees will inevitably rise.
Infrastructure Is Already Being Built
The market is not waiting. Coinbase has already created the x402 protocol for automatic HTTP payments, which allows services to accept programmable payments from humans and AI agents without the need for accounts or manual payment. On July 14, the Linux Foundation announced the launch of the x402 Foundation, which includes 40 participants, including AWS, Google, Mastercard, Visa, Coinbase, Stripe, Circle, Shopify, Solana Foundation, and Stellar Development Foundation. This is a consortium of giants that see the future in agent payments.
In September 2025, Google introduced the open Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and for Web3 scenarios, added the A2A x402 extension with participation from Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, and MetaMask. In April, the developers of the x402 standard launched a marketplace of applications and services for AI agents.
My conclusion: we are witnessing not just a trend, but the formation of a new infrastructural paradigm. AI agents will become mass consumers of cryptocurrency transactions, and the networks that provide the best combination of speed, cost, and reliability will gain a tremendous advantage. The foundation is now being laid for a market that, in 5-7 years, could be measured in trillions of dollars.