Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are the next “killer” use case for blockchain and cryptocurrency, according to investment management giant Franklin Templeton’s head of digital assets and innovation.
Sandy Kaul said in a X post on Wednesday that the AI agent economy will increase demand for blockchain protocols hosting machine-to-machine micropayments, as legacy card networks are unsuitable for agentic payments due to high fees and settlement times.
“To capture the AI growth opportunity today, most investors buy shares of AI-aligned companies and related verticals. But will the same playbook work for agentic AI,” Kaul said in the introduction to his more-than-1,800 word post.
He said blockchain networks such as Aptos, Solana and the BNB Chain are more suited for the agentic economy, as they settle transactions in seconds, faster than the one-to-three business-day settlement time of the Visa network.
In a joint report published last Wednesday, payments giant Visa and investment thesis platform Artemis argued that traditional cards built for low-frequency human commerce are insufficient for AI agents, which need infrastructure with near-zero fees and faster settlement to make agentic micropayments commercially viable.
Visa’s crypto division and Stripe-backed Tempo both launched AI tools in March. Visa’s allows AI agents to make same-day payments.
Some machine payment protocols are boasting signs of adoption. The x402 payment protocol developed by Coinbase processed $15 million in adjusted volume across over 109 million adjusted transactions since it was launched in May 2025, according to Visa and Artemis’ joint report.
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