Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok has issued a warning about a potential “agentic bank run,” arguing that autonomous AI agents could soon redirect household cash out of near-zero checking accounts and into higher-yield fintech and online accounts. The warning appeared in a note published on September 27 under the title “Is an Agentic Bank Run Coming?”.
Slok highlighted the sharp gap between traditional checking yields and what fintech platforms offer. With the national average checking rate around 0.1%, a $10,000 balance earns roughly $10 per year, while the same amount in a 5% account would earn about $500. He listed online providers including Revolut, Varo, Wealthfront, LendingClub and SoFi paying between 3.3% and 5%, with Adelfi at the top and SoFi near 4.5%. Because retail deposits are banks’ cheapest funding for loans, large-scale automated outflows could raise funding costs and squeeze lending profitability.
The potential trigger for this shift, according to Slok, is Meta's Muse, launched on September 8 with account connections powered by Plaid. Muse can currently view balances, transactions and investment holdings, though it cannot yet initiate transfers. Slok also referenced broader warnings: the Bank of England said in April 2025 that advanced AI trading could lead to “increasingly correlated positions” and amplify shocks, while former SEC Chair Gary Gensler made similar comments in 2023. The note also cited the Federal Reserve’s September 16 decision to raise its target range to 3.75% to 4%, its first hike in three years, which pressured bank stocks.
On the crypto side, the report says stablecoin payment rails are already being built for agentic finance. Coinbase’s x402 protocol allows AI agents to pay for online services with stablecoins in seconds without accounts, cards or human approval. To date, x402 has reportedly processed between 188 million and 205 million transactions, with around 69,000 active bots. The x402 Foundation includes Cloudflare, Google, Visa, Mastercard, AWS, Circle and Stripe and is governed by the Linux Foundation. Market estimates cited include Mordor Intelligence projecting the AI agents segment to grow from $7.78 billion in 2026 to $43.52 billion by 2031, while MarketsandMarkets put the market at about $845 million.
