AI Economy Could Drive ‘Underappreciated’ Demand for Digital Assets: BlackRock

BlackRock Identifies AI as Overlooked Catalyst for Crypto Growth

The world’s largest asset manager has released research suggesting that artificial intelligence represents a fundamentally underappreciated opportunity for digital asset adoption. In their latest research paper titled “The Machine-Native Economy,” BlackRock explores how the rise of autonomous AI systems and machine-to-machine transactions could reshape demand for blockchain infrastructure, stablecoins, and other cryptocurrency applications. According to the research, as reported by Cointelegraph, this relationship between AI and digital assets has been largely overlooked by the market, yet could establish blockchain as essential infrastructure for an increasingly autonomous digital economy.

Machine-to-Machine Payments Demand Specialized Infrastructure

According to BlackRock authors Will Su, Robert Mitchnick, Jay Jacobs, and William Helm, the proliferation of agentic AI will require payment systems fundamentally different from conventional financial infrastructure. Traditional payment networks impose significant friction points unsuitable for high-frequency interactions between autonomous agents. Account setup, credentialing, and authorization processes often necessitate human involvement, creating bottlenecks for machine-driven commerce. Additionally, merchant fees make small-value transactions economically impractical, and settlement times inconsistently vary across different providers. Stablecoins and other blockchain-based digital assets offer a superior alternative designed specifically for these use cases. These assets enable frequent sub-cent transactions that operate continuously without the overhead and delays of conventional payment systems. BlackRock’s research identifies stablecoins as the likely leading digital asset type for powering autonomous machine commerce, positioning them as a structural demand driver for the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Computing Capacity as Tokenized Digital Assets

Beyond payments, BlackRock’s research highlights a second mechanism through which digital assets could become central to AI infrastructure. The computing power required to train and deploy AI systems represents an increasingly valuable and scarce commodity. As global demand for processing capacity accelerates, companies managing AI infrastructure could benefit from tokenizing claims on computing resources. Tokenization would create tradeable assets representing capacity claims that could be transferred, pledged as collateral, or used within broader financial arrangements. This approach would allow AI companies to secure cost certainty and manage provider relationships more effectively, while simultaneously creating opportunities for institutional investors to participate in the growing compute market. AI agents themselves could eventually interact with these markets, automatically purchasing computational resources as needed to execute their functions efficiently.

Industry Building Toward This Vision

BlackRock’s thesis aligns closely with arguments from prominent crypto entrepreneurs. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has contended that AI agents will fundamentally require programmable money through crypto-based financial services rather than traditional banking infrastructure. Several leading projects are already constructing the infrastructure to support machine-native commerce. Coinbase developed the x402 protocol specifically for agent payments, while Tempo created the Machine Payments Protocol enabling autonomous service payments. Circle introduced agent wallets alongside USDC payment capabilities, and OKX built the Agent Payments Protocol to support recurring payments and escrow arrangements where funds are released after task completion.

BlackRock’s institutional standing amplifies the significance of this research. As the world’s largest asset manager with substantial influence among institutional investors, the firm’s analysis provides intellectual justification for viewing blockchain infrastructure as foundational rather than speculative. The research positions digital assets not as a competing technology to AI, but as essential infrastructure that AI advancement could drive increasingly valuable.

If BlackRock’s analysis proves prescient, crypto’s next major adoption wave may be driven not by retail enthusiasm but by machine demand for efficient, programmable, and autonomous payment systems that traditional finance simply cannot provide.

Source: BlackRock, via Cointelegraph. Not financial advice.