Stripe co-founders Patrick Collison and John Collison said blockchains may eventually need to process more than one billion transactions per second to support a future dominated by artificial intelligence agents.
In their annual letter reviewing 2025 performance, the executives argued that AI agents are likely to become primary drivers of online transactions, sharply increasing demand on blockchain infrastructure.
“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,”
Wrote Stripe co-founders, Patrick and John Collison.
They cited a memecoin trading surge last year that delayed payouts for a Bridge user by more than 12 hours and drove per-transaction fees up 35 times, warning that such bottlenecks would intensify if AI-driven activity accelerates.
According to Chainspect data, Internet Computer Protocol and Solana currently lead major networks in throughput at roughly 1,196 and 1,140 transactions per second respectively, far below the theoretical scale envisioned by Stripe.
The Collisons said AI agents have moved beyond the “pure hype” phase into real-world experimentation and outlined a five-level capability framework ranging from completing web forms to anticipating user needs autonomously.
“As with the early internet, the future success of agentic commerce is contingent on universal interoperability,”
They wrote, arguing that open protocol systems rather than walled gardens will determine whether AI-powered commerce can scale effectively.
At the time of reporting, Solana price was $87.79.