Franklin Templeton Executive Identifies Agentic AI as Crypto’s ‘Killer Use Case’ as Ether Nears $2,000
John Gillen, former BlackRock VP and host of Milk Road Daily, revealed on Tuesday that the Head of Digital Assets and Innovation at a $2 trillion asset manager “just said to buy ETH.” This statement followed a detailed post on X by Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul, which explored the potential applications of cryptocurrency in agentic AI payments.
Investors typically purchase shares in AI-focused companies to capitalize on current growth opportunities. The U.S. stock market has experienced a significant surge, with the S&P 500 climbing 20% over the past year and reaching an all-time high in early June, largely propelled by technology and AI stocks.
However, Gillen suggested that this conventional investment strategy might not be as effective for agentic AI.
Agentic AI systems possess the capability to independently initiate, monitor, and complete transactions. Projections indicate that agentic commerce could reach between $3 trillion and $5 trillion by 2030.
Existing payment infrastructures, characterized by high fees and slow transaction speeds, are ill-suited for micropayments. Furthermore, AI agents are unable to open bank accounts or access traditional financial services due to stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.
Consequently, it is anticipated that AI agents will likely utilize decentralized blockchains for transactions. Ethereum and its layer-2 networks currently represent the industry standard, boasting the largest developer community and substantial institutional backing.
“I believe what will become increasingly clear in coming years is that in order to capture the value of decentralized networks and businesses, investors will need to buy the cryptocurrencies and altcoins being issued by those entities,” Gillen stated. He added, “Such investments are likely to become key holdings in portfolios, especially for those looking to capture the emerging agentic AI opportunity.”
In April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report forecasting that agentic AI will revolutionize payments, with standards already under development. The report noted, “A growing set of industry actors, including payment networks, technology platforms such as Ethereum, and AI model providers, are in a race to experiment with these capabilities.”
Crypto commentator Leo Lanza remarked on Tuesday that while “everyone sees Ethereum as a tokenization bet,” “almost nobody sees it as an AI bet. But AI agents will need financial rails to hold assets, settle payments, and transact with each other.”
Ethereum’s price reached a seven-week high of $1,945 on Tuesday and has largely maintained these gains in early trading on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the asset was trading at $1,930, marking a 27% increase since its cycle low on June 26 and approaching the significant psychological threshold of $2,000.
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