SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom has projected that artificial intelligence agents could cut financial-services fees by $1.4 trillion annually by 2035, reshaping how consumers save, invest, and pay. In a public post on X, Chalom said his team modeled ten financial verticals and expects more than $1 trillion of industry revenue to become contestable by 2030, rising to $4 trillion by 2035.
The forecast assumes autonomous software will force banks, brokers, and payment firms to compete more aggressively on price. Under that scenario, consumers could keep an extra $350 billion a year by 2030, growing to $1.4 trillion a year by 2035. Chalom also highlighted that US households hold roughly $15 trillion in checking, savings, and short-term deposit accounts, much of it earning below money-market rates. He estimates savers forgo at least $180 billion annually because cash remains parked in lower-yielding products.
AI agents could automatically compare options, move idle balances, and negotiate financial services on users’ behalf. Chalom named Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, PayPal, Circle, Tether, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Binance among companies positioning for the agent economy. Whoever controls the financial infrastructure could influence which products agents recommend and where customer funds move.
Chalom argued that stablecoins are emerging as a natural payment rail because autonomous software needs programmable, always-on settlement. He pointed to Ethereum as a likely hub for much of that activity, where stablecoins, tokenized assets, and DeFi liquidity are already concentrated. SharpLink itself held 891,714 ETH as of September 14, linking the company’s treasury strategy to that thesis.
Not everyone agrees blockchain will dominate. Analysts at Fidelity Digital Assets have warned that private, closed payment systems built by tech firms could compete directly with public blockchains for automated payment flows. Chalom previously worked as an executive at BlackRock, and recent BlackRock research found digital stablecoins are becoming a top choice for automated transfers. Wall Street currently holds a Strong Buy consensus rating on Sharplink stock, based on six unanimous Buy ratings over the past three months, with an average price target of $17.67.
