If agentic commerce is to meet its potential, the industry must develop a solid trust foundation. That’s why Chandler Fang founded t54. Using his experience in quant trading at JPMorgan Chase and in cross-border payments at Ripple, Fang is building the trust layer this sector sorely needs.
From 2017-2021, Fang worked in quant trading and research at JPMorgan Chase, developing trading algorithms. He also focused on AI in payments and the JPM Coin before moving on to Ripple.
That background was perfect preparation for t54.
“There’s a strong synergy between AI, blockchain technology, and stablecoins,” Fang said.
Agentic tech began slowly before taking off
AI agents had a fairly inauspicious debut. Fang said they had limited functionality. During his JPMorgan tenure, AI was mostly machine learning, natural language processing and reinforcement.
That changed with ChatGPT3, which was more powerful than legacy technologies. Whereas new developments in Fang’s JPMorgan days came, if lucky, once a quarter, and marginal growth once a year, they now came monthly or even faster.
“And each month, you see something quite remarkable and impressive,” Fang said.
Now, creators can tell agents what they want them to do and trust the technology to determine the best path.
“That’s the reasoning power of AI agents,” Fang explained. “They are smart enough to know how to use different tools, even using other agents for other data and research… breaking a complex project into viable steps.”
Key components of t54’s trust layer
Agents that can recommend a route to Singapore and suggest an itinerary are nice; they generate useful information and save some time. Fang said the value comes in when the agent books the tickets and hotel and even negotiates the price. Recent research found that 42% of Americans would allow the agent to do all of that, as long as it can guarantee the lowest price.
That next step mandates trust. What if the agent loses the money? What if a booking site’s agent doesn’t allow your agent to book?
“Agents are getting more powerful and a lot of human beings want agents to be deeply involved in their daily lives to make that easier,” Fang said. “This inevitably means working with the financial ecosystem.”
Easier said than done, as Fang said 86% of cyberprofessionals say agents require their own identities and verifiability. In short, how can you trust their agent, and how can they trust yours?
Enter t54. Humans have FICO scores and are subjected to KYC. Should agents have a credit score? How about KYA (know your agent)?
Absolutely, Fang responds. Track agent activity, test code for robustness. Properly onboard identity agents, and perform risk assessments on its transactions. Reassure market participants by addressing disputes and chargebacks. Fang likens it to a hire, where an employer accepts a resume, hires and puts the employee on probation.
Fang illustrates the possible with an agent instructed to order a coffee. Check the underpinning AI technology and model number. Conduct a security token exchange between the humans and agent; assess the biometrics, passkeys, etc.
And ask questions:
- How risky is the transaction?
- Did the agent choose a convenient location?
- Was the location highly rated?
- Was the location actually open?
- Was the transaction successfully completed?
And the big one:
What if something goes wrong?
“You can ask us and we will honour it for you so you can have pure trust,” Fang said.
t54 raises $5m round
Investors like the concept. Last week, t54 raised $5 million in seed funding led by Anagram, PL Capital, and Franklin Templeton, with strategic participation from Ripple, Virtuals Ventures, Blockchain Coinvestors, and ABCDE.
“We are building trust infrastructure for the agentic economy,” Fang said. “Financial systems were designed around human identity and human decision-making. As agents become autonomous participants, we need agent-native financial primitives—verifiable agent identity (KYA), real-time risk assessment, and programmable accountability—built for how agents operate.”
Fang’s Ripple experience pays off, as t54 previously announced a strategic collaboration with Evernorth, a Ripple-backed digital asset treasury company. Evernorth will integrate t54 to conduct verification, risk assessment, and compliance for autonomous treasury operations on the XRP Ledger.
“As institutions embrace tokenization and autonomous systems, the infrastructure layer must evolve to match. t54 is building the trust and verification framework that institutional finance will require as AI agents become participants in financial markets,” said Tony Pecore, SVP/ director of digital asset management at Franklin Templeton.
