BlackRock sees AI as new growth factor for digital assets

Asset manager BlackRock expects the rapid rise of artificial intelligence to become a major new demand driver for digital assets. In a new research report, the company argues that AI can accelerate the adoption of blockchains, stablecoins and other digital financial infrastructure. Cloud revenues at large tech companies could rise to $1.1 trillion by 2030, creating a new investable market around computing power.

In brief:

• BlackRock describes in a research report how AI growth can lead to a new market for digital assets around computing power.
• The company expects AI agents to make autonomous payments via stablecoins, tokenised assets and blockchains.
• According to BlackRock, cloud revenues at large tech companies could rise to $1.1 trillion by 2030.

Computing power as a new digital market

BlackRock sees computing power as the central intersection between the utility and adoption of digital assets. According to the report, blockchains can enable AI systems to discover, finance and pay for computing power in real time. In this way, computing power becomes a market that takes place entirely on a blockchain, with supply and demand dynamically matched.

The company describes this as a potentially major shift: not people, but automated systems completing transactions and making payments based on current needs. This requires financial infrastructure that machines understand and can use directly.

AI agents demand ‘machine-native’ payment infrastructure

An important part of BlackRock’s analysis is the expected increase in autonomous payments by AI agents. As these systems become more autonomous, the need also increases for what the company calls ‘machine-native’ financial rails: payment and settlement infrastructure specifically suited to automated transactions.

Stablecoins, tokenised assets and blockchains play a central role in this, according to BlackRock. The company does not present this as a distant future but as a development already under way that can structurally change demand for digital assets. It is, however, an analysis and expectation from BlackRock, not an established fact.