BlackRock says AI could drive digital asset adoption

A BlackRock paper says artificial intelligence could drive digital asset adoption. Autonomous agents could buy services, move money and source computing power. BlackRock argues that AI provides machine-native intelligence. BlackRock argues that digital assets provide the payment and settlement infrastructure that agents may need to act on their decisions. An agent could pay for a data request, book a service or purchase computing capacity without waiting for a person to complete the task. Stablecoins are likely to be the first major beneficiaries. Stablecoins have relatively stable value for pricing services. Blockchain networks can support payments around the clock. BlackRock highlights the Coinbase x402 protocol as one emerging way for agents to pay for online resources, including API calls. Tokenized claims on computing capacity could eventually be traded or used as collateral. Standardized contracts and liquid markets for those claims have yet to develop. Existing payment networks are adapting to agentic commerce.