BlackRock says AI agents could boost demand for stablecoins, blockchain networks
Stablecoin activity could also have implications for underlying blockchain networks by increasing demand for blockspace, validators and other network services, according to analysts.
AI could become a structural catalyst for digital asset adoption as autonomous agents begin interacting directly with payment systems, financial assets and computing resources, according to BlackRock Digital Assets Research. The report argues that the two technologies share a machine-native foundation. AI systems process information through standardized numerical tokens, while blockchains represent assets and economic claims through standardized digital tokens that can be transferred and settled programmatically.
That convergence could be especially important for agentic commerce. AI agents are increasingly capable of planning and executing multistep tasks, creating potential demand for payment rails that can operate continuously and without human intervention. BlackRock points to stablecoins, native cryptoassets and tokenized real-world assets as programmable instruments that can support payments, ownership and collateral. Protocols such as x402 can enable machine-initiated payments for data and services, while MCP and A2A allow agents to access external tools and coordinate with other agents. Traditional systems such as cards and ACH will remain important for human-facing commerce, but the report says their cost, authorization and settlement characteristics can be less suitable for very small, high-frequency machine transactions.
Stablecoins are likely to play a central role in that process because they offer relatively stable units of account and programmable settlement. BlackRock said stablecoins had more than $300 billion in circulation as of September 2026 and generated more than $11 trillion in adjusted transaction volume during 2025. The report said growing use could increase demand for the blockchain networks that issue and settle stablecoins, although the extent to which that translates into value for native cryptoassets will depend on network economics.
BlackRock also identifies compute as a potential new digital asset market. Combined AWS, Microsoft Intelligent Cloud and Google Cloud revenue is estimated to reach about $1.1 trillion by 2030. As AI inference becomes a larger source of demand, standardized contracts tied to specific compute capacity could allow providers and users to finance, hedge and trade computing resources. Agents could eventually compare compute availability, price, latency and hardware characteristics before automatically provisioning and paying for capacity through programmable rails. The report cautions that these markets remain nascent and face challenges around hardware differences, regional energy costs, contract design and settlement.