BlackRock published a paper arguing that artificial intelligence could be one of the biggest drivers of digital asset adoption as autonomous agents begin buying services, moving money and sourcing computing power, according to a BlackRock paper.

The asset manager frames AI as providing “machine-native intelligence” while digital assets provide the payment and settlement infrastructure agents need to act on those decisions.

Stablecoins first

Stablecoins are the first major beneficiary, BlackRock argues. Their relatively stable value makes them useful for pricing services, and blockchain networks can support payments around the clock.

In a use case the paper describes, an AI agent carrying out a task could pay for a data request, book a…