Kevin O’Leary, a multimillionaire, believes AI and blockchain will ignite the “next revolution in business,” enabling AI to automatically make retail purchases while utilizing blockchain for payments.
In a brief video shared on X Saturday, the Shark Tank co-host and venture capitalist stated that blockchain will facilitate a new wave of AI-driven transactions, managing everything from orders at Walmart and Target to fast food establishments:
“You just talk to your phone and say, I want a tall, low-fat latte, please. I’ll be there in 90 seconds. That’s all.”
“In that moment, the AI assesses your location, identifies which retailer is closest, and then uses blockchain for a digital payment for the tall low-fat latte,” O’Leary elaborated.
“It already recognizes you, so the retailer knows your name when you enter,” he continued.
AI is set to merge with blockchain and transform everything. Picture placing your coffee order by voice, AI finds the café, and blockchain processes your payment instantly.
That’s the forthcoming business revolution. Quicker, smarter, entirely on-chain. The question is: who will create it… pic.twitter.com/IWyTgY2tga
— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) October 19, 2025
Mr. Wonderful is searching for a groundbreaking solution
Yet, O’Leary mentioned that he has not found a solution capable of processing millions of retail transactions simultaneously at low costs.
He noted that existing solutions like Ethereum fail to achieve this as they organize transactions linearly, resulting in delays and high fees during peak times.
“It’s a long highway leading to a toll road for transaction authentication, and when too many transactions occur simultaneously, they get stuck at the toll—causing congestion.”
“We don’t possess the technology yet, at least not with those… options to execute what I just described,” O’Leary stated.
However, there are alternatives to the issue O’Leary described, known as Directed Acyclic Graphs, which process transactions in a web-like structure instead of linear blocks.
Hedera and Nano are examples of crypto solutions employing this architecture, but they have only garnered a small fraction of the user base compared to dominant chains like Ethereum and Solana.
O’Leary expressed his interest in finding the first project to scale this up, saying: “This is an incredible opportunity because Walmart, Target, and fast-food chains require millions of transactions daily, all independent, all navigating the tolls simultaneously.”
Interestingly, just last year O’Leary critiqued individuals for spending $5.50 on coffees and $15 on sandwiches when they could make them at home for much less.
Agentic AI is already assisting individuals with daily activities
Agentic AI is currently helping people manage everyday tasks ranging from searching and ordering to reminders.
Related: AI Polkadot parachain Phala votes to fully transition to Ethereum L2
In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Kyle Okamoto, chief technology officer of the decentralized infrastructure platform Aethir, mentioned that his wife developed an agentic AI solution to remind her when to replenish groceries.
“She simply communicates with her agent regularly and says, hey, I’m out of milk, and it keeps a record of that, ultimately informing her, hey, you typically run out of milk every week to eight days. While you haven’t told me yet, we should probably just add milk to your shopping list.”
Her agentic AI can categorize products across Target, Whole Foods, Amazon, and even monitor which items are on sale, Okamoto remarked: “Sometimes the kids’ yogurt is priced a dollar less at Target due to a sale compared to Whole Foods.
She wants to avoid checking all these sites for the entire shopping list, so she relies on the agent to provide price alerts.”
What’s now needed is a blockchain solution that addresses the payment aspect, according to O’Leary.
Magazine: Review: The Devil Takes Bitcoin, a gripping history of Mt. Gox and Silk Road
