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SOL Franklin Templeton: AI proxy economy will drive blockchain micropayments
Franklin Templeton, the world's leading asset manager with more than US$1.5 trillion in assets, has regarded artificial intelligence agents as the next major growth area for blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Sandy Kaul, the company's head of digital assets and innovation, elaborated on this vision in a recent post on Platform X.
AI Agents and Blockchain Infrastructure
Kaur believes that the rise of an AI-driven agent economy will generate huge demand for blockchain protocols that can support micropayments between machines. She pointed out that traditional payment networks, including widely used card systems, face challenges in meeting the speed and low-cost requirements of automated digital agents.
Kaul emphasized the limitations of existing card networks, whose fees and settlement speeds cannot adapt to the typical high-frequency, micro-transactions of automated AI agents. She believes that most investors currently participate in AI growth opportunities by purchasing stocks of companies related to the AI field, but with the popularity of proxy artificial intelligence, it is uncertain whether this strategy will still be effective.
She pointed out that blockchain networks such as Aptos, Solana and BNB Chain are well prepared for this new digital landscape. These platforms can settle transactions in seconds, which is in sharp contrast to systems such as Visa Networks, which take one to three working days to settle.
Payment industry giants have also recently studied this topic. Payments giant Visa and research platform Artemis jointly released a report last week concluding that traditional cards-designed for low-frequency, human-driven transactions-cannot meet the needs of AI agents. They believe that to support commercial-scale proxy micropayments, the network needs to have both instant settlement and extremely low fees.
Micro Dictionary: Proxy economy refers to a digital ecosystem in which AI agents perform transactions or tasks autonomously without direct human intervention, usually interacting with other machines, users or protocols.
Industry response and adoption trends
In the past few months, several major companies have launched tools that target the intersection of AI and payments. Visa's crypto arm and Stripe-backed Tempo both released AI-driven solutions in March. Visa's new features enable AI agents to process same-day payments.
At the same time, new protocols that promote machine payments are also showing early signs of adoption. According to joint analysis by Visa and Artemis, the x402 payment protocol created by Coinbase has processed more than 109 million adjusted transactions since its launch in May 2025, with adjusted transaction volume reaching US$15 million.
In order to consolidate its position in the context of the accelerated development of agency transactions, Visa has launched a machine-to-machine payment tool; and Coinbase's adoption data demonstrates the practical application of the technology in a real-world environment. This suggests growing interest in infrastructure that can support the complex and rapid settlement needs of the AI-driven economy.
Visa and Artemis found that traditional payment cards cannot meet the frequency or scale required by proxy AI transactions, further reinforcing the trend towards blockchain alternatives.
The increasing experimentation and support of AI proxy payments by blockchain networks and major payment industry companies reflects the industry's growing awareness of the role that digital assets may play in driving next-generation automated commerce.
