Crypto22 September, 20262 min read
BlackRock Says AI Agents Will Buy Computing Power And Data With Stablecoins
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AI agents will use stablecoins to pay for computing power and data. Blockchain tokens will tokenize computing resources and underpin decentralized payments for AI agents.
6 outlets told this the same way.
BlackRock links AI and crypto
BlackRock said artificial intelligence could be one of the biggest drivers for digital asset adoption as autonomous agents begin buying services, moving money and sourcing computing power. BlackRock argued that AI provides “machine-native intelligence” while digital assets provide the payment and settlement infrastructure agents may need to act on their decisions.
BlackRock said an agent carrying out a task could pay for a data request, book a service or purchase computing capacity without waiting for a person to to complete. BlackRock said stablecoins are likely to be the first major beneficiary because their relatively stable value makes them useful for pricing services, while blockchain networks can support payments around the clock.
Compute tokenization and payments
BlackRock projected that blockchain will evolve into decentralized payment infrastructure underpinning the artificial intelligence (AI) agent economy, with computing resources tokenized as financial assets for trading or use as collateral. BlackRock identified machine-to-machine micropayments, automated trading of tokenized financial assets, and the financialization of computing resources as key areas where AI and digital assets converge.
BlackRock said stablecoins are capable of processing repeated micropayments without human intervention, and it cited the x402 protocol, Stripe and Tempo's MPP, and OpenAI's ACP as technologies for implementation. BlackRock also said computing capacity could be tokenized as claims on consumable processing time, data throughput, and hardware access rights, rather than ownership of fixed financial instruments.
Underappreciated demand, still speculative
BlackRock said broad AI adoption could represent an underappreciated source of demand for digital assets, and it framed the relationship as a structural catalyst for digital asset adoption. BlackRock’s research team wrote, “Together, these developments position AI as a structural catalyst for digital asset adoption and digital assets as a potential facilitator of the AI economy,” and it added that “This relationship remains underappreciated and could expand the role of digital assets as core infrastructure for an increasingly autonomous digital economy.”
BlackRock said compute is emerging as a new and potentially large market for digital assets, while also describing the idea as “largely speculative at this stage.” BlackRock said it expects agent payments to remain at an early stage, while liquid markets for standardized compute contracts have yet to develop.