AI Agents: A New Catalyst for Cryptocurrency Payments, According to Franklin Templeton
The world of cryptocurrencies is on the verge of a tectonic shift. Artificial intelligence, or more precisely, AI agents capable of independently conducting transactions, is becoming the "killer use case" for blockchain that we have been waiting for so long. Analysts at Franklin Templeton, one of the world's largest asset managers, point out that it is these autonomous programs that can take crypto payments to a fundamentally new level.
Why Traditional Payments Are Not Suitable for AI
Traditional financial infrastructure, with its high fees, settlement delays, and mandatory human involvement, is simply not designed to work with AI agents. Imagine an agent that analyzes the data market in real time, finds the best source, and instantly pays for API access. In the existing system, this would take days. Blockchain, with its ability for instant settlement and low costs, becomes the ideal environment for such operations.
The Scale of the Future Market
The figures cited by experts are impressive. According to Bain & Company forecasts, by 2030, AI agents will account for 15% to 25% of all sales in US e-commerce. McKinsey analysts go even further, estimating the global volume of transactions "orchestrated" by agentic commerce at $3–5 trillion. Servicing such a flow will require infrastructure capable of processing millions of micropayments per second—a task that blockchain handles much more efficiently than classic banking systems.
Which Networks Are Ready for the New Era
Not all blockchains are created equal. Franklin Templeton conducted a comparative analysis of throughput. Bitcoin with its 7 TPS and Ethereum with 75 TPS will clearly not cope. However, Solana (up to 6284 TPS), BNB Chain (up to 3252 TPS), and especially Aptos (up to 12,933 TPS) look much more promising. For comparison, Visa processes 1700–10,000 transactions per second in normal mode, but final settlement takes up to three days. Blockchain eliminates this bottleneck. According to analysts, it is the growth of agent payments that will become a powerful catalyst for increasing demand for the native assets of these networks, particularly SOL and ETH.
The Infrastructure of the Future Is Being Built Right Now
The market is not waiting. Protocols specifically designed for machine payments have already emerged. For example, x402 from Coinbase, which allows services to accept payments from AI agents without the need for accounts or manual payment. In July, the Linux Foundation announced the launch of the x402 Foundation, which includes giants such as AWS, Google, Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, and Shopify. Google, in turn, introduced the open protocol AP2, developed jointly with Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation. These are not just experiments—this is the formation of a new standard for the Internet of Things and the agent economy.
My expert opinion: We are witnessing not just another hype, but a fundamental paradigm shift. AI agents are not "another application" of blockchain, but its natural habitat. Traditional finance will not be able to provide the speed and decentralization necessary for the economy of autonomous agents. Investors should take a close look at projects that are building the infrastructure for this future, rather than just speculating on the name "AI."