The Solana Foundation has launched a provocative billboard campaign in San Francisco with the message 'Don’t waste time with crypto'. At first glance, this seems counterintuitive, but it reflects the foundation's bullish outlook on crypto's future, particularly in conjunction with agentic AI.
The idea is that instead of spending time on cumbersome crypto transactions, users can leverage AI agents to handle the process. The billboard directs viewers to the x402 account on X, highlighting the Solana ecosystem's push to establish blockchain as invisible infrastructure for the next internet phase.
The foundation's vision centers around an 'agentic' internet, where AI systems drive economic activity. A key component is x402, a payment system designed for the internet, enabling apps, websites, and AI tools to automatically charge small amounts without requiring logins or human intervention. This facilitates 'agentic payments', often involving tiny fractions of a cent, which are challenging for traditional financial systems to support due to high fees and latency. Solana is positioned to capitalize on this emerging economy with its high throughput and low transaction costs, potentially becoming the default settlement layer.
The billboard's message encapsulates this shift, suggesting that if the technology succeeds, users won't need to think about crypto at all. According to a Solana Foundation spokesperson, 'Crypto and Solana are well on their way to being the default way AI pays', with agents gravitating towards networks where performance is key.