BlackRock: AI Agents Could Drive Crypto's Next Demand Wave
BlackRock argues that AI, especially autonomous “agentic” systems, could become a major new driver of crypto demand because agents will need a way to pay for services directly. Traditional payment rails and bank accounts are built for humans, not software making frequent tiny transactions, so BlackRock sees stablecoins as the best fit: fast, always-on, low-cost, and programmable. The firm says machine-native intelligence and machine-native money are converging. It highlights rising stablecoin usage, with adjusted transaction volume above $11 trillion in 2025 and strong growth since 2020. BlackRock also points to early payment infrastructure for AI, such as Coinbase’s x402 protocol and agent-payment integrations from Amazon and Google, though current real-world AI-agent usage remains limited. The bigger thesis is that future AI systems may pay for compute, APIs, data, and bookings on their own, turning stablecoins and on-chain assets into core plumbing for a machine-to-machine economy.
