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AI could ultimately develop a new breed of crypto users—machines.
It is one of the concepts in a recent BlackRock research paper on the relationship digital assets have with AI. AI agents will require methods of paying for services such as data, software and computing power as they become autonomous, the paper notes.
BlackRock believes stablecoins may be especially beneficial for those transactions.
This week, the firm’s Digital Assets Research team released The Machine-Native Economy: How Digital Assets Connect Intelligence, Commerce and Compute. It examines the potential implications when AI systems begin to take action on behalf of individuals and corporations.
AI Agents Can’t Just be Smart.AI Agents must be more than intelligent.
An AI agent can accomplish more than just spit out text or answer a question. Developers are creating systems to find information, invoke software tools and complete tasks with minimal human interaction.
When that trend starts to happen, money is thrown into the mix.
The agent who requests a service, acquires access to a database, or borrows computing power, must have a method of payment. It might also have to make numerous little payments, without having to seek authorization for each and every transaction.
There BlackRock sees an opportunity for blockchain networks.
Traditional payment systems were primarily based around people and businesses. Automated machine-to-machine commerce has other demands; transactions can take place at any time (very small amounts), without anyone entering them into a computer manually.
BlackRock states that digital assets and programmable payment networks fall into that category.
The appeal of the Stablecoins lies in their stability.
However, Bitcoin is not a clear-cut solution for every machine transaction as its value may shift significantly during brief timeframes.
Stablecoins are different. Typically, they are created to monitor the value of a currency (such as the U.S. dollar).
This makes them more convenient to use when an AI agent is required to pay a known amount for a service.
BlackRock thinks stablecoins will play an important role in what it calls agentic commerce — An AI system could use a stablecoin to pay for an API request, get data or buy computing resources.
Limited varieties of such transactions already exist using technology. BlackRock mentions the new payment protocols (for instance, Coinbase’s x402) as infrastructure being developed for automated payments.
However the market is still small. At this time, AI agents aren’t making machine-to-machine payments on anywhere near a scale with ordinary consumer or business payments.
That distinction matters.
BlackRock is talking about a potential demand driver for the future (not that AI agents are already the big demand driver for crypto).
An asset that is digital and that can be computed.
Payments are not the only issue.
AI needs a lot of computing power. Training and deployment of these advanced models call for GPUs, data centers and cloud infrastructure, all of which are growing in demand.
BlackRock is seeing an opportunity in the market for the computing resources themselves.
The firm’s research reveals that capacity claims could eventually be standardized and be viewed as digital assets. If this were the case, then the claims could be sold or pledged.
It’s an earlier concept than stablecoin payments.
A liquid market would require buyers and sellers to have standardized contracts, and reliable means of valuing the underlying computing power. Those markets, he says, don’t exist on a large scale yet at BlackRock.
Still, the proposal is noteworthy because it takes tokenization out of familiar assets (bonds, funds and real estate) into other assets (e.g., tokens representing bonds).
BlackRock is not the only one to have already made these connections.
This study is an extension of a previous BlackRock blog post on AI and crypto.
In the thematic research titled ‘AI and Digital Assets: Two Forces that May Rub Minds’ BlackRock noted that AI and digital assets may complement one another’s integration in daily life. For instance, if an AI agent is assisting a traveler in making a reservation.
The agent may research the flights and hotels, check facts and complete a portion of booking. When the agent receives third party information/services, it could be paid for using blockchain.
It’s a reflection, not a forecast of the way consumers will make their next vacation bookings.
The message is more practical: An AI system that is capable of making decisions might eventually require a method of communicating with financial systems.
The Payment System Is Only One Piece There are many other factors to consider.
The path to that normalcy is fraught with a number of challenges to be addressed.
If you have an autonomous agent that’s managing money, issues of security and authorization come into play. A user should be aware of how much an agent can spend and where it can send the money.
Then there’s identity. There are methods for banks to identify customers and track their transactions; automated software involves a different person in this system.
Fees matter too. An economical payment rail is required in a machine that makes hundreds or thousands of tiny payments. If a transaction ends up being more expensive than the service being purchased it is not useful.
The market may be influenced by regulation, too.
Stablecoins are a growing component of the digital asset infrastructure and the regulation of stablecoins and automated financial activity is evolving on a global basis.
All of these things don’t negate the idea. However, they do say that adoption will likely be reliant on more than just developing the technology.
A different path to crypto adoption.
For years crypto adoption has been talked about in terms of people.
Someone buys Bitcoin. A company is accepting stablecoins. An institution adds digital assets to its financial products.
AI opens up a different option.
Software may be an active part of the digital economy.
An agent might require information in the first transaction, computation in a second and access to a digital service in a third. When such transactions occur automatically and on a large scale, the financial infrastructure supporting them may be important.
That’s where BlackRock’s point remains to be seen.
The firm isn’t saying that AI agents will replace conventional payment systems overnight. It’s claiming that the advent of self-governing software may provide a motivation to utilize programmable payment networks and digital belongings within the first place.
Stablecoins could be the first place to reap benefits as they are expected to be relatively stable.
There is a more distant possibility that is tokenized computing capacity.
What Happens Next?
The next test will be whether AI agents are able to undertake economic activity at scale.
For now the technology is moving faster than surrounding financial infrastructure. Developers are playing with automated payments; financial firms are looking at tokenization and stablecoins.
Those things have the possibility of uniting one day and giving crypto an new purpose outside of people buying tokens for investment.
Machines could be part of the normal commerce system.
That’s still a work in progress, not a finished story, but BlackRock’s latest study indicates that big financial institutions are beginning to view AI and crypto as elements of the same economic ecosystem — two technology trends, rather than opposing forces.
CryptopianNews provides this information for educational and informational purposes only. You should not consider it financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and speculative, and they carry inherent risks. We advise readers to conduct their own research and to consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
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