Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom has projected that AI agents will eliminate nearly a quarter of global finance fees by 2035, with his team's model estimating resulting investor savings at $1.4 trillion annually. Chalom, a former BlackRock executive, shared the forecast on Wednesday via social media.
The Revenue at Stake
Chalom's team modeled 10 financial verticals through 2035. According to their analysis, more than $1 trillion in annual financial services revenue will be up for grabs by 2030, with that figure projected to reach $4 trillion annually by 2035.
The model assumes AI agents will pressure financial providers to compete more aggressively on fees. Under this scenario, consumers would retain an extra $350 billion annually by 2030, increasing to $1.4 trillion by 2035.
Chalom also highlighted approximately $15 trillion held by US households in checking, savings, and short-term deposits, much of which earns below money-market rates. He estimated this gap costs savers at least $180 billion annually.
The Competition for Agent Infrastructure
Multiple major financial and cryptocurrency firms are racing to control AI agent infrastructure, according to Chalom. He named Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, PayPal, Circle, Tether, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Binance as contenders in this emerging competition.
Chalom argued that controlling agent infrastructure would determine which financial products agents recommend and where idle cash gets directed. "Whoever owns the infrastructure, owns the agent, and therefore the customer," he stated.
Stablecoins and Ethereum
BlackRock's recent research paper identified stablecoins as the leading candidate for agent payments. Chalom contends that agentic transactions will predominantly occur where stablecoins, tokenized assets, and decentralized finance liquidity are concentrated, with significant activity currently centered in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Chalom cited Ethereum's record of 3.6 million daily transactions in April as evidence of network activity growth. Sharplink itself held 891,714 ETH as of September 14, according to its dashboard.
Not all observers share this outlook. Fidelity Digital Assets offered a more cautious perspective in August, with senior research analyst Max Wadington warning that closed systems operated by tech and fintech firms could instead absorb agent activity.
