Tom Kushner As AI agents move beyond hype to real-world adoption, Stripe executives predict that blockchains may need 1B TPS to support AI agent future, signaling massive infrastructure upgrades ahead.
In a bold vision for the digital economy, Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison believe that blockchains may need 1B TPS to support AI agent future as artificial intelligence becomes a dominant force in online commerce. Their latest annual letter lays out a roadmap where AI-driven transactions redefine internet scale and blockchain performance requirements.
The Collison brothers foresee an era in which AI agents handle most online transactions autonomously. As these virtual assistants evolve from simple form fillers to fully autonomous agents capable of independent decision-making, the blockchain ecosystem will be forced to scale up dramatically. Current infrastructure, they argue, falls far short of what will be required in a world where billions of automated microtransactions happen simultaneously.
AI Agents and the Coming Transaction Explosion
Stripe’s founders emphasize that today’s blockchains process thousands of transactions per second at best, but tomorrow’s AI-driven economy could demand up to a billion. That is the scale, they believe, necessary to accommodate a future where intelligent agents negotiate, purchase, and verify transactions without human involvement.
This prediction builds on the observation that the current blockchain landscape still faces major scalability bottlenecks. Even leading networks like Solana and Internet Computer Protocol are capable of processing around 1,000 transactions per second on average, far below the theoretical ceiling needed for mass AI integration. The Collisons highlight that the explosive rise of decentralized trading and memecoin activity has already stressed existing systems, resulting in delayed payments and inflated transaction costs.
Such limitations, they note, are early indicators of what could happen once AI agents become a mainstream part of online interaction. If each AI entity handles hundreds of microtransactions per hour, the result could be a surge that overwhelms even the most advanced blockchain networks.
From Hype to Real-World Experimentation
According to Stripe’s analysis, AI commerce has already moved past the hype stage. What was once theoretical is now being tested in live environments. Early AI agents are capable of basic tasks like completing forms and executing descriptive searches, but the next generation will introduce persistent memory, autonomous decision-making, and the ability to anticipate user needs.
The Stripe letter categorizes AI agents into five distinct levels of capability. At the lower tiers, they perform routine functions like finding information or filling online forms. At higher tiers, they begin to exhibit persistence and delegation, remembering user preferences and completing tasks such as online shopping. The ultimate level, anticipation, involves predictive behavior—where agents execute tasks before a user even asks.
As AI agents mature into fully autonomous entities, the number of blockchain-based interactions will multiply exponentially. Each transaction, verification, and micro-payment will require secure, real-time validation. In this sense, blockchains may need 1B TPS to support AI agent future to maintain smooth, scalable operations across global digital ecosystems.
Interoperability Will Define Agentic Commerce
The Collison brothers stress that the success of this new phase of digital commerce will hinge on interoperability. They envision an open ecosystem where AI agents and blockchains communicate freely across protocols rather than operating within closed systems. The long-term vision is a network of interoperable protocols that enable AI-driven commerce to flow seamlessly across industries and geographies.
They liken this to the early days of the internet, when open standards unlocked innovation and collaboration at a global scale. The same principle, they argue, must guide the next phase of blockchain evolution. Without cross-network compatibility, the efficiency gains of AI will be limited by the fragmentation of infrastructure.
The Path Ahead for Blockchain and AI Integration
The growing intersection between blockchain and artificial intelligence represents one of the most transformative shifts in technology. While the current ecosystem is far from capable of sustaining 1 billion transactions per second, progress in sharding, parallel execution, and layer 2 scaling is bringing the industry closer to that vision.
Financial firms, developers, and infrastructure providers are now racing to build the next generation of blockchain networks that can support this immense load. From modular architectures to zero-knowledge rollups, multiple approaches are being explored to ensure that transaction throughput keeps pace with AI evolution.
The vision presented by Stripe is both a warning and an opportunity. As digital agents rise to prominence, blockchains must evolve beyond human-scale transaction limits. The convergence of AI and decentralized technology could usher in a new phase of intelligent commerce—one where speed, trust, and autonomy coexist at a scale never before imagined.
Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards.
