BlackRock said in a new report that artificial intelligence and digital assets are converging as AI agents become a more active part of the financial sector.
The report, titled "The Machine-Native Economy," said there is an architectural link between AI and digital assets. Large language models could turn language into tokens machines can process, while blockchain networks would turn cash and fund interests into tokens that machines can settle.
BlackRock said the rise of agentic AI and machine-to-machine payments will favor payment rails that run continuously, settle quickly and handle minuscule payments, which will naturally increase demand for stablecoins.
"Existing rails such as ACH and card networks support substantial automation, although their onboarding requirements and settlement economics can make them less suited to always-on, very low-value transactions requiring programmable execution," the report explained.
Furthermore, BlackRock said growing computing needs could become another potential market for digital assets as AI agents need to buy processing capacity on demand.
According to the report, rising AI compute demand may create a market for standardized claims on processing capacity that are issued, transferred, pledged, and settled as digital assets. It also said exchange-traded compute futures and similar contracts could follow once markets can price differences in chips and regional energy costs.
"The ecosystem remains nascent, with agentic payment activity and compute market liquidity still limited," BlackRock said. "As AI adoption broadens and agentic systems become more capable, digital assets could become increasingly integral to AI’s economic infrastructure, expanding utility across stablecoins, tokenized RWAs, and native cryptoassets that support blockchain settlement."