AI Agent Revolution Could Demand Blockchain Networks Handle 1 Billion TPS: Stripe Leadership
According to Stripe's Patrick and John Collison, blockchain infrastructure will face unprecedented demands as artificial intelligence agents become more prevalent and widely adopted.
Payment processing giant Stripe has indicated that blockchain networks could require the capacity to handle as many as 1 billion transactions per second in order to accommodate the emerging landscape of artificial intelligence agents.
Through an annual update letter shared on X this Tuesday, Patrick Collison, who serves as Stripe's CEO and co-founder, along with his fellow co-founder John Collison, provided insights into the company's achievements throughout 2025, in addition to offering forecasts about what lies ahead in the coming years.
Among the primary subjects addressed was the growing prevalence of AI agents and the potential implications of their mass adoption. The pair contended that blockchain-based transaction volumes are poised to experience exponential growth as AI agents progressively take over as the main facilitators of digital commerce and online financial activities.
That said, the Stripe leadership team emphasized that a substantial infrastructure deficit currently exists within blockchain technology and stressed that massive scalability improvements are essential to accommodate this anticipated surge in demand.
"Last year, a memecoin trading frenzy on one of the major blockchains delayed payouts for one Bridge user by over 12 hours and spiked per-transaction prices 35x. While such operational issues are already significant, they will only intensify, for we expect the appetite for transactions to grow a great deal," they wrote, adding:
"In our view, agents will most likely soon be responsible for most internet transactions, and we will likely need blockchains that support more than one million — or even one billion — transactions per second."
Based on metrics provided by Chainspect, the Internet Computer Protocol and Solana currently hold the top positions among blockchains measured by transaction throughput, processing approximately 1,196 and 1,140 transactions per second (TPS), in that order.
These two represent the sole blockchain platforms in the current market that are capable of handling more than 1,000 TPS, and when operating at maximum capacity, they have achieved 25,621 TPS and 5,289 TPS, respectively.
Under current conditions, the theoretical upper limits for both networks stand at merely 209,708 TPS and 65,000 TPS, respectively.
AI commerce is past the "hype phase"
In addition to their forecasts regarding future demand patterns, the Stripe leadership also detailed the primary categories of applications that AI agents are expected to fulfill across the internet. At present, they noted that AI agents have progressed beyond an era of "pure hype" and entered a period characterized by active development and "real-world experimentation."
They described five distinct levels of AI agent capabilities. The initial two levels encompass: the ability to complete web forms and descriptive search — which involves retrieving results for users based on situational descriptions rather than precise characteristics.
Based on the assessment from the Stripe executives, AI agents are currently "hovering on the edge" of levels one and two.
"As with the early internet, the future success of agentic commerce is contingent on universal interoperability. Our ascent through the five levels depends on our ability to work together," they wrote, adding:
"If all goes well, the little critters won't be cooped up in walled gardens, but will be zooming down the wide-open protocol highways."