Key facts
- BlackRock believes AI agents will drive significant demand for digital assets.
- Stablecoins are seen as ideal for AI agent payments due to their 24/7, sub-cent transaction capabilities.
- Tokenized claims on computing capacity could become a new digital asset use case.
- AI agents may use these tokenized assets for financing and programmable settlement.
- Existing payment rails are not well-suited for the high-frequency, low-value transactions AI agents will conduct.
- Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume topped $11 trillion in 2025, growing about 80% annually since 2020.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has identified artificial intelligence as a potentially significant, yet underappreciated, driver of demand for digital assets. In its research paper, "The Machine-Native Economy," the firm posits that the rise of AI and machine-to-machine payments could spur increased use of blockchains, stablecoins, and other on-chain assets for transactional purposes. The report also highlights an opportunity in tokenizing claims on computing capacity, which could be traded and used as collateral, thereby broadening institutional investor participation in the digital asset ecosystem.
The authors, including BlackRock's Will Su, Robert Mitchnick, Jay Jacobs, and William Helm, argue that existing payment systems are not ideally suited for the high-frequency, low-value, round-the-clock transactions that AI agents might conduct. They suggest that stablecoins are likely to lead in supporting this "agentic commerce." This perspective aligns with views previously expressed by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who argued AI agents will need programmable money.
Protocols like Coinbase's x402, built on "HTTP 402: Payment Required," are already enabling software to pay for services without human sign-off. Amazon and Google have also integrated stablecoin payments into their cloud offerings to facilitate agent transactions. However, real-world usage remains limited, with a TRM Labs study indicating AI agents accounted for only 0.6% to 7.5% of volume on the x402 protocol in 2026.