Overview
- Franklin Templeton’s head of digital assets, Sandy Kaul, published a LinkedIn post on July 22 arguing that autonomous “agentic” AI that buys and pays for services will drive mainstream blockchain use.
- Kaul says many agent transactions will be tiny—often a fraction of a cent—so card networks and bank fees would make those payments uneconomic and create demand for cheaper, programmable rails.
- The firm points to high‑throughput chains such as Aptos, Solana and BNB Chain as technically better suited for fast, frequent settlement because they claim thousands of transactions per second.
- Franklin Templeton has matched its thesis with moves in the market, expanding its digital‑asset business and taking part in a reported $6 million seed round for Cambrian to build on‑chain data infrastructure.
- The argument is forward‑looking: industry actors including Circle, Google‑backed projects, Coinbase and the x402 Foundation are building protocols for machine payments, but scale, regulation and operational challenges mean the outcome is still a projected path rather than an established market fact.