At BlackRock's Aladdin Client Forum, executives from BlackRock, Coinbase and Chainlink discussed what AI agents will need to manage payments independently, focusing on low-cost settlement rails and controls over agent behavior.
BlackRock digital assets research head Will Su joined Alec Glovett of Coinbase and Sergey Nazarov of Chainlink to discuss AI agents with wallets. Aladdin is BlackRock's investment and risk management platform. Chainlink described Aladdin as underpinning more than $25 trillion in institutional investment.
BlackRock's Case for Machine-Native Money
Su cited a BlackRock paper that frames AI as the brains of a new machine economy and crypto as its money. Titled "The Machine-Native Economy," the paper is from BlackRock's Digital Assets Research team, led by Su and Robert Mitchnick, according to Decrypt. It argues that AI supplies "machine-native intelligence" while digital assets supply "machine-native money."
Stablecoins are better suited than banks or card networks to the sub-cent, around-the-clock payments agents would need to make, the paper says, Decrypt reported. CoinDesk noted that BlackRock points to Coinbase's x402 protocol as one emerging method for agents to pay for online resources, including API calls.
BlackRock does not portray this as a complete system. CoinDesk reported that the firm considers agent payments to be at an early stage, with liquid markets for standardized compute contracts yet to emerge. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs analyzed $52.7 million in x402 settlements and estimated that AI agents likely made up between 0.6% and 7.5% of the volume, according to InvestingLive.
Coinbase and Chainlink on Rails, Identity and Limits
Lovett said agents need new, low-cost rails designed for very high transaction volumes. He said Coinbase is investing heavily in stablecoin payments, fast blockchains and agent protocols.
Nazarov expects agents to be used under tight controls. He said an agent would have an identity and work within defined limits, much like a Know Your Agent check. This echoes the topics Chainlink highlighted for the session: TokenPost reported that the discussion focused on trusted data, guardrails and verifiable execution for agentic transactions.
According to TokenPost, Chainlink runs a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts to external data sources, APIs and payment systems.
The panel reflects a broader effort by traditional finance and crypto firms to shape the infrastructure for software-driven payments. For now, the discussion focuses on cost, speed and control, while identity and spending limits are viewed as prerequisites for broader use.
Sources
Decrypt: BlackRock says AI agents could drive crypto's next demand wave
CoinDesk: BlackRock says AI agents could use stablecoins to pay for data and computing power
TokenPost: Chainlink co-founder joins BlackRock forum discussion on AI transactions
Source: bsc.news. Adapted by NBTC.
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