Solana dominates as preferred blockchain for 70% of AI agents, Franklin Templeton report reveals
AI-powered assistants are opting for Solana more than ever, attracted by its ability to scale smoothly and keep costs down.
According to a recent report by Franklin Templeton, 70% of AI-powered virtual assistants, known as AI agents, choose to operate on the Solana (SOL) blockchain. This preference is largely due to Solana’s ability to handle large volumes of transactions efficiently and at lower costs.
These AI agents are sophisticated tools that carry out tasks, make decisions, and interact with both people and digital systems, transforming how operations are managed within the crypto sector.
An interesting example of these AI agents at work is the Truth Terminal project AI chatbot which initially gained fame on Twitter by promoting a fictional religion called the “Goatse Gospel.” It caught the public eye in July 2024 after receiving a large Bitcoin (BTC) donation from Marc Andreessen, a well-known venture capitalist from Andreessen Horowitz.
Truth Terminal’s influence extended further when it actively promoted and boosted the Solana-based meme coin Goatseus Maximus (GOAT), which achieved a market cap of nearly $1.22 billion on November 16, 2024. As of Jan. 15, GOAT is trading at $0.338 with a market cap of $338 million.
Similarly, Zerebro (ZEREBRO), which operates on Solana, generates AI-driven music and NFTs with the help of its open-source ZerPy framework, which helps customize AI agents. Another promising project, ARC, is a high-performance platform running on Solana to allow rule-based AI agents, which are virtual assistants that help users make decisions or take action.
Griffain is another project working towards personalized AI agents while ai16z deploys Solana to handle AI-enabled interactions in venture capital through its ElizaOS framework.
Earlier this month, on Jan. 2. Binance launched perpetual contracts for Griffain (GRIFFAIN), ai16z (AI16Z), and ZEREBRO. In the last 24 hours, GRIFFAIN has been up over 19%, AI16Z by over 14%, and ZEREBRO by over 4%, reflecting the strong optimism for these Solana-based AI coins.
Most AI agents are still in the nascent stages. The market cap for AI tokens stands at $3.95 billion as of Jan. 15, which makes up only 0.11% of the total crypto market cap.
However, certain Solana-funded projects have already gained quite some popularity by pushing the total AI token market cap by 14.5% in a day, as per CoinGecko. For instance, Zerebro has released music albums, while Dolos Diary, another AI agent, has amassed millions of views on TikTok.
Apart from these AI agent projects, notable growth has also been seen in Virtual Protocol (VIRTUAL), an AI agent launchpad on Ethereum (ETH), which reached a market cap of $4.62 billion on January 1, 2025, but declined to $1.92 billion as of this writing. Interestingly, aixbt (AIXBT) by Virtuals Protocol, which operates on both the Base and Solana, has been up by 45.2% in the last 24 hours, as per CoinGecko.
While some skeptics in the blockchain community suggest that the AI agent hype is more marketing than technology, the integration of these agents into Solana flourishes as they leverage the performance and price accessibility of the Solana ecosystem to improve its features and user experience.
