BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, says artificial intelligence could become a major source of demand for digital assets. The firm believes investors still underappreciate this link.
The claims come from a new research paper titled "The Machine-Native Economy." BlackRock's Will Su, Robert Mitchnick, Jay Jacobs and William Helm wrote it.
The paper says the rise of AI and machine-to-machine payments could increase demand for blockchains. It also points to stablecoins and other on-chain assets as possible beneficiaries.
"Together, these developments position AI as a structural catalyst for digital asset adoption and digital assets as a potential facilitator of the AI economy," the authors wrote.
They added that the relationship "could expand the role of digital assets as core infrastructure for an increasingly autonomous digital economy."
Why AI Agents May Need Crypto Payments
A large part of the paper focuses on agentic AI. These are AI systems that can act on their own, including making payments.
BlackRock said current payment systems can handle some automation. Still, steps like opening accounts, checking credentials and approving payments often need a human.
The paper also said merchant fees can make very small payments too costly. Settlement and finality times can also vary between providers.
BlackRock said stablecoins, native cryptocurrencies and tokenized real-world assets are well suited for this activity. They can handle frequent, sub-cent payments between machines at any hour of the day.
"Several types of digital assets may support agentic commerce, but stablecoins are likely to lead transactional use," the authors said.
Tokenized Computing Power
The paper also sees an opening for digital assets in the market for compute. Compute is the processing power needed to train and run AI systems.
As AI demand grows, companies may want to lock in costs and providers to manage risk. BlackRock said claims on that capacity could be turned into tokens that can be traded, transferred or pledged as collateral.
"This could in turn broaden institutional investor participation and establish compute as a new opportunity for the broader digital asset ecosystem," the authors said. They also said AI agents could use these markets to buy resources automatically.
BlackRock's view matches arguments from crypto executives. In July, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pushed back against calls for crypto to pivot to AI.
"AI being a megatrend takes nothing away from crypto," Armstrong wrote. He said AI agents will need programmable money instead of traditional banking rails, adding, "If anything, it makes crypto more important."
Several crypto companies are already building tools for AI payments. Coinbase's x402 protocol and Tempo's Machine Payments Protocol both let AI agents pay for online services automatically.
In May, Circle launched agent wallets and USDC payment tools. OKX's Agent Payments Protocol supports recurring payments and escrow deals, where funds are released after a task is finished.
