BlackRock: Blockchains Will Evolve from Speculative Rails into Decentralized Value Settlement Networks for AI Agents

In a research whitepaper on AI and digital assets, global asset manager BlackRock highlights an unprecedented convergence between artificial intelligence and digital assets, noting that an autonomous AI agent economy urgently requires machine-native financial settlement rails. The whitepaper outlines three core intersection scenarios: first, high-frequency, automated machine-to-machine micropayments, where autonomous AI agents can settle natively in fiat-backed stablecoins without human intervention via protocols such as x402, Stripe and Tempo’s MPP, and OpenAI’s ACP.

Second, the programmable interaction of tokenized financial assets, allowing AI systems to execute trades and manage funds directly via smart contracts across tokenized real-world assets (RWAs); and third, the financialization and collateralization of computer resources as digital assets. BlackRock emphasizes that against the backdrop of adjusted stablecoin transaction volumes surpassing $11 trillion in 2025 and emerging regulatory clarity across the US, Europe, and APAC, the blockchain layer is fundamentally evolving from a vehicle for human speculation into the decentralized value settlement network powering an autonomous machine economy.