BlackRock: AI to Reshape Digital Asset Economy Through Stablecoins and Computing Power
BlackRock's research paper on the impact of AI on digital assets suggests that as artificial intelligence matures, it will drive growth in the crypto market through stablecoins and increasing demand for computational power.
The firm maps AI's evolution across three phases: buildout, adoption, and transformation. The current buildout phase is focused on physical infrastructure such as data centers, specialized chips, and energy infrastructure. By 2030, annual investment in AI infrastructure could exceed $700 billion, accounting for over 2% of US GDP.
Stablecoins are seen as a key enabler of AI's growth in the digital asset economy, providing programmable money that can move at digital speed. The stablecoin market cap has already surpassed $250 billion, with BlackRock predicting further adoption as AI systems increasingly handle financial transactions and trade settlement.
Bitcoin and Ether are currently the primary focus for institutional investors, but other tokens may benefit from rising demand for computing power driven by AI model training and inference workloads. Bitcoin miners could see improved margins and more stable revenue streams if they pivot to providing high-performance computing and data center leasing services.