According to Franklin Templeton's head of digital assets Sandy Kaul, agentic AI agents are the next "killer" use case for blockchain and cryptocurrency, as they will drive demand for machine-to-machine micropayments on blockchain protocols, Kaul said on Wednesday.
Blockchain networks such as Aptos, Solana, and BNB Chain are better suited than legacy card networks like Visa to handle agentic payments due to near-zero fees and transaction settlement in seconds, compared to Visa's one-to-three business-day settlement time. The x402 payment protocol developed by Coinbase has processed $15 million in adjusted volume across over 109 million transactions since its May 2025 launch.