BlackRock sees AI agents as catalyst for stablecoin and crypto use

BlackRock’s latest research paper suggests that artificial‑intelligence (AI) agents may become a major driver of digital‑asset adoption. The firm highlights two distinct use cases: near‑term payments using stablecoins and longer‑term tokenized claims on computing capacity.

Stablecoins for machine‑native payments

The paper notes that AI agents can act autonomously, buying services, moving money and sourcing compute power without human intervention. Stablecoins, with their relatively stable value, are seen as the first major beneficiary because they enable pricing of services and 24/7 settlement on blockchain networks. BlackRock points to the Coinbase x402 protocol as an emerging method for agents to pay for online resources such as API calls.

Tokenized computing capacity as a future market

As demand for AI processing grows, the firm envisions standardized claims on computing capacity being traded, financed or used as collateral through digital‑asset infrastructure. Analyst estimates cited by BlackRock project revenue from the major cloud providers—Amazon, Microsoft and Google—to approach $1.1 trillion by 2030. However, the paper acknowledges that liquid markets for such compute contracts have not yet materialized.

Current stage of development

BlackRock emphasizes that agent‑driven payments are still in an early stage and that standardized, liquid markets for tokenized compute resources remain to be built.