-
The AI Cryptocurrency That Could Benefit From the Artificial Intelligence Boom
For years, cryptocurrency supporters have argued that it was the future of money. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), that future is becoming a reality. OpenClaw, an open-source AI assistant program, helped put AI agents on the map when it went viral earlier this year.
AI agents can browse the web, use programs, and make purchases -- all autonomously. Many AI agents have begun transacting on Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), a blockchain known for its lightning-fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Here is how AI agents could make Solana a must-have cryptocurrency for the future.
Solana is an early winner in agentic AI payments
Vibhu Norby is an executive responsible for product strategy and AI adoption at the Solana Foundation. Recently, he estimated that Solana accounts for at least 65% of all agentic on-chain payments made through x402, a popular Coinbase-developed protocol that allows AI agents to make payments autonomously.
AI agents accounted for $31 billion in payment volume on Solana in 2025. Remember, each transaction on Solana burns a small amount of tokens. A more active Solana network burns more tokens, putting a metaphorical thumb on the scales of the supply and-demand equation that influences token prices.
The ceiling could be very high
AI agents don't need to sleep or take breaks. If people can set up AI agents on localized AI models (no paid subscription) and run them around the clock, there's no telling how many AI agents there might be 10 years from now.
Research from Edgar, Dunn & Company projects that the total agentic commerce market, consumer-to-business transactions initiated by AI agents, will grow from an estimated $136 billion last year to $1.7 trillion by 2030. Major payment companies like Visa and Mastercard will fight for market share. Still, it's notable that Solana has captured such a large share of payment volume so quickly.
How should investors approach Solana today?
The broader stock market has been increasingly shaky in recent weeks, and Solana is down a whopping 61% over the past six months. As exciting as Solana's long-term potential may be, cryptocurrencies remain very speculative investments and are prone to gut-wrenching volatility.
It would be wise to treat Solana like any other investment: including it as a small piece of a diversified portfolio. Buying a little Solana at a time would help protect investors from too much exposure at a bad price. The agentic payments story will likely still take years to play out, so plan on Solana as a buy-and-hold investment rather than a lottery ticket.
Should you buy stock in Solana right now?
Before you buy stock in Solana, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Solana wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $515,294! Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,077,442!
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 914% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
This article has been published in fool.com via Yahoo News.
The AI Cryptocurrency That Could Benefit From the Artificial Intelligence Boom
This blockchain is surging in a potential trillion-dollar market AI payments industry.
finance.yahoo.com
