BlackRock says AI could drive demand for digital assets

BlackRock says broad AI adoption could drive demand for digital assets. BlackRock made the assessment in its research paper, "The Machine-Native Economy." The firm said AI and machine-to-machine payments could increase demand for blockchains and programmable payment infrastructure. That infrastructure includes stablecoins and other on-chain assets. BlackRock said tokenized claims on computing capacity could be transferred. Those claims could also be pledged as collateral or traded. BlackRock said stablecoins are likely to lead transactional use among digital assets for agentic commerce. BlackRock said these assets could support high-frequency, sub-cent, machine-to-machine transactions that operate around the clock. BlackRock said AI companies could use tokenized compute markets to manage costs and risk. The firm said AI agents could automatically purchase computing resources as needed. BlackRock's Will Su, Robert Mitchnick, Jay Jacobs and William Helm wrote that AI could act as a structural catalyst for digital asset adoption. They also wrote that digital assets could facilitate the AI economy. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong previously argued that AI agents could increase demand for crypto-based financial services. Coinbase's x402 protocol and Tempo's Machine Payments Protocol are designed to let AI agents automatically pay for online services. Circle introduced agent wallets and USDC payment tools in May. OKX's Agent Payments Protocol is designed to support recurring payments and escrow arrangements.