BlackRock's Digital Assets Research team has published a white paper titled "The Machine-Native Economy: How digital assets connect intelligence, commerce, and compute," proposing a framework in which AI compute power could be tokenized and traded as digital assets.
The paper identifies three areas where AI and programmable finance are converging: automated machine-to-machine payments, tokenized financial assets, and emerging markets for computing capacity. BlackRock's researchers argue that standardized digital contracts representing claims on compute resources could facilitate financing and programmable settlement, allowing AI agents to transact based on factors like price, performance, and latency when selecting compute providers.
According to the research, revenue from hyperscaler cloud services is projected to reach approximately $1.1 trillion annually by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 29% from 2025. The paper states that "compute is emerging as a new and potentially large market for digital assets."
The research identifies agentic payment protocols, including x402 and the Machine Payments Protocol, as foundational infrastructure for machine-initiated transactions. These systems would enable AI agents to autonomously pay for compute resources without manual human intervention.
BlackRock notes that these markets are "largely speculative at this stage" and emphasizes that robust infrastructure around permissions, identity, and compliance must be developed before these concepts become operational. The white paper is a research document and does not announce new products or reference existing tokens.
The firm has been expanding its digital asset presence in recent years, including the launch of tokenized money-market products and other on-chain financial instruments.
