AI Agents Set to Drive Crypto Demand, Says BlackRock
BlackRock's research paper, 'The Machine-Native Economy', predicts that artificial intelligence (AI) agents will drive demand for cryptocurrencies. The report argues that AI systems will need to make payments independently, without human intervention, and stablecoins are better suited to handle these transactions than traditional payment rails.
The paper highlights the growth of agentic AI, which can plan and carry out tasks autonomously, but notes that this autonomy comes with a problem: someone or something needs to pay the bill. Traditional payment systems require a human with an ID and can't handle the low-value, high-frequency transactions expected from AI agents.
BlackRock suggests that stablecoins, pegged to a stable asset like the US dollar, are the best solution for these transactions due to their ability to move 24/7 and settle almost instantly. The report estimates that adjusted stablecoin transaction volume topped $11 trillion in 2025, dwarfed by traditional bank transfer systems but growing at an impressive rate.
The paper also explores the concept of tokenized claims on computing power, which could become a significant digital asset use case for financing and programmable settlement. This would allow AI agents to shop around for the cheapest available server capacity and pay for it directly, job by job, without human intervention.