Stablecoins Poised to Power AI-Powered Payments
BlackRock has published a research paper arguing that stablecoins will be used by AI agents to pay each other, leading to increased transactional use. The paper names Ethereum and Circle's Arc as potential settlement venues for this activity.
The report describes AI as 'machine-native intelligence' and digital assets as 'machine-native money', stating that they will require always-on rails for high-frequency, low-value payments. It notes that card networks and ACH are less suitable due to onboarding requirements and fees making very small transactions uneconomic.
Stablecoins are likely to lead transactional use in agentic commerce, according to the paper, which mentions Ethereum (ETH) and Circle's Arc as venues where this activity could settle. Greater stablecoin activity could lift demand for blockspace and support value capture for assets like ETH, BlackRock said.
BlackRock also estimates that cumulative AI capital spending could exceed $5 trillion between 2025 and 2030, with combined revenue from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud, and Google Cloud at about $1.1 trillion by 2030.