AI Agents Set to Revolutionize Crypto Adoption with Agentic Commerce

A recent thesis by Franklin Templeton's head of digital assets and innovation, Sandy Kaul, argues that agentic AI will drive the next wave of crypto adoption. Agentic AI is different from generative AI as it acts on its own, completing tasks without human approval at every step.

AI agents can compare prices, buy cloud computing power, negotiate data subscriptions, or hire other AI agents to complete subtasks. This creates a new kind of economic activity: machines paying machines thousands of times per hour for fractions of a cent per transaction.

Kaul believes that blockchain networks solve the problem of traditional payment rails making no sense for these microtransactions. Public chains like Solana, Aptos, and BNB Chain settle transactions in seconds with fees measured in fractions of a cent.