Agentic AI may drive blockchain micropayments, Franklin Templeton

Sandy Kaul, head of digital assets and innovation at Franklin Templeton, wrote on X that agentic artificial intelligence will spur demand for blockchain micropayment protocols and named Aptos, Solana and the BNB Chain as likely hosts for such payments. He posted the analysis on Wednesday.

Kaul defined AI agents as software that can act autonomously and make transactions on behalf of users. He argued that those agents will require machine-to-machine micropayments that legacy card networks struggle to handle because of fees and settlement delays. “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?” he wrote.

The post noted that some blockchains settle transactions in seconds, a pace Kaul contrasted with the one-to-three business-day settlement timeline typical of card networks. He identified low fees and rapid finality as features that could make certain chains more suitable for high-frequency, low-value payments between machines.

A joint report from a payments company and an investment platform published last Wednesday reached similar findings, saying payment cards designed for low-frequency human commerce are not well suited to AI agents that need near-zero fees and faster settlement to make micropayments viable. The report cited early industry tools introduced in March: a payments product from a major card network’s crypto division and an AI payments tool backed by a payments processor.

The report also provided early adoption data for machine payment protocols. It said Coinbase’s x402 payment protocol processed $15 million in adjusted volume across more than 109 million adjusted transactions since its launch in May 2025, illustrating how some protocols are handling large numbers of small-value flows.

Kaul framed the topic as an investment question about whether exposure to AI-focused companies is sufficient or whether investors should also consider the blockchain infrastructure that would enable autonomous agent payments. Franklin Templeton is a global investment management firm and Kaul leads its digital assets and innovation efforts.