BlackRock Believes AI's Potential to Boost Crypto Demand Is Still Underappreciated

Increasing Demand for Machine-Native Payment Systems

BlackRock highlights that the rise of agentic AI will likely increase the need for payment instruments designed specifically for machine-to-machine interactions. Current payment rails, while supporting some automation, require human involvement for account setup, verification, and authorization, and merchant fees make microtransactions uneconomical. Settlement and finality times also vary by provider, limiting efficiency.

The authors argue that stablecoins, native cryptocurrencies, and tokenized real-world assets are well-suited for high-frequency, low-cost machine-to-machine transactions that operate 24/7. Among these, stablecoins are expected to lead transactional use.

Tokenization of Compute Could Open New Crypto Markets

The authors observe that the compute market — the processing power needed to train and run AI systems — is rapidly growing. AI companies aim to lock in costs and manage risk, presenting an opportunity to tokenize claims on computing capacity.

Such tokens could be transferred, pledged as collateral, or traded, expanding institutional investor participation and broadening the digital asset ecosystem’s infrastructure role.

Additionally, AI agents might automatically purchase computing resources via these tokenized marketplaces.

Industry Leaders’ Views and Existing Implementations

BlackRock’s thesis aligns with views expressed by crypto executives. In July, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pushed back against calls for crypto to pivot fully to AI, stating that AI actually increases the importance of crypto, since AI agents require programmable money rather than traditional banking rails.

Companies are already building supporting infrastructure. Coinbase’s x402 protocol and Tempo’s Machine Payments Protocol enable AI agents to automatically pay for online services.

In May, Circle launched agent wallets and USDC payment tools, while OKX introduced its Agent Payments Protocol, designed for recurring payments and escrow arrangements where funds are released after task completion.