AI tokens climb after Franklin Templeton report

Several AI-related tokens climbed after Franklin Templeton published a report in which the investment firm’s experts predicted a “revolution” in content creation thanks to artificial-intelligence agents.

Intersection of AI Agents & the Crypto Ecosystem pic.twitter.com/dr621skRxy

— Franklin Templeton Digital Assets (@FTDA_US) January 14, 2025

“We can imagine a future in which AI agents revolutionize social media content creation and become integral across industries and platforms,” the analysts wrote.

Neural networks will be able to launch their own brands, products, music, films and more, creating significant economic value for their ecosystems. For now, they are at an early stage of development, according to Franklin Templeton.

“Although they are not yet fully autonomous and, in their current state, are of limited practical use, this nascent sector has significant potential. It is worth watching its development and maturation closely,” the report says.

The AI tokens mentioned in the report, Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) and ai16z (AI16Z), rose following the document’s publication — by 7% and 20%, respectively. The latter later pulled back.

In January, Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi said he was confident that AI agents would be the crypto community’s main narrative in 2025.

In December, several other experts expressed a similar view — neural networks will transform cryptocurrencies in the future.

Contrary to popular opinion, a developer under the alias Kyle stated that AI agents will cease to be the dominant narrative in the crypto industry over the coming months.