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Franklin Templeton bets AI agents will boost demand for on-chain micropayments

Franklin Templeton says legacy card networks are ill suited for agentic payments due to high fees and settlement times, while it points to blockchain networks that settle in seconds.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Franklin Templeton expects the rise of AI agents, also called the autonomous AI agent economy, to increase demand for blockchain protocols designed for machine-to-machine micropayments, according to the firm’s digital assets and innovation lead Sandy Kaul. Kaul said in a post that legacy card networks are not built for agentic payments because of high fees and slower settlement, arguing that the faster turnaround available on certain blockchain networks will better match the needs of near-zero-fee, rapid transactions. He specifically cited blockchain networks including Aptos, Solana, and BNB Chain, saying they can settle transactions in seconds, compared with Visa’s one-to-three business day settlement window. Visa and investment thesis platform Artemis also argued in a joint report that traditional cards built for low-frequency human commerce lack the infrastructure required for commercially viable agentic micropayments. The joint report also highlighted early activity in machine payment protocols, including Coinbase’s x402, which processed $15 million in adjusted volume across over 109 million adjusted transactions since launching in May 2025, the outlets said.

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