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BlackRock, the firm managing roughly $150 billion in digital assets, has published research laying out a framework for how artificial intelligence could reshape the digital asset economy. The core argument is straightforward: as AI matures from infrastructure buildout to mass adoption, it will drag the crypto market along with it, primarily through stablecoins and rising demand for computational power.
BlackRock maps AI’s evolution across three distinct phases: buildout, adoption, and transformation. The buildout phase, happening now, centers on the physical stuff, things like data centers, specialized chips, and the energy infrastructure to power them. By 2030, annual investment in AI infrastructure could exceed $700 billion, representing over 2% of US GDP. That’s a lot of capital looking for efficient settlement rails, and BlackRock thinks digital assets will be the ones to provide them.
Stablecoins as the connective tissue
By late November 2025, the stablecoin market cap surpassed $250 billion. BlackRock’s argument is that as AI systems increasingly handle financial transactions, trade settlement, and cross-border payments, they’ll need programmable money that moves at digital speed. Stablecoins fit the bill because they combine the stability of fiat currency with the programmability and near-instant settlement of blockchain networks.
Bitcoin, Ether, and the ‘everything else’ problem
BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets, Robbie Mitchnick, offered a blunt assessment of where institutional money is actually flowing. The focus is on Bitcoin and Ether, with most other tokens occupying a far less flattering category in institutional thinking.
Bitcoin benefits from both its status as a store of value and a more practical angle. Rising AI-related demand for computing power could directly benefit Bitcoin mining operations that pivot to high-performance computing and data center leasing. Miners already operate massive facilities with high-capacity power connections. The same infrastructure that hashes Bitcoin blocks can, with modifications, serve the insatiable appetite of AI model training and inference workloads.
The three-phase playbook
BlackRock’s “Digital disruption and AI” framework, initially published in November 2024, lays out a timeline that investors can actually work with. Phase one, the buildout, is where we are now. Phase two, adoption, is when companies across industries start integrating AI into core business processes rather than running pilot programs. This is where BlackRock expects digital asset demand to accelerate, because widespread AI deployment creates exponentially more transactions, data exchanges, and micro-payments that benefit from blockchain-based settlement.
Phase three, transformation, is the longer-term bet. BlackRock envisions a future where AI agents autonomously transact with each other, managing portfolios, executing trades, and settling payments without human intervention.
What this means for the market
BlackRock isn’t a neutral observer here. With approximately $150 billion in digital assets under management by mid-2026, the firm has significant skin in the game. Its iShares Bitcoin Trust became one of the fastest-growing ETFs in history after launching in early 2024.
For Bitcoin miners, the implications are immediate. Companies already repositioning as “AI infrastructure providers” rather than pure-play miners could see improved margins and more stable revenue streams. The volatility of Bitcoin’s price becomes less existential when half your data center is leased to an AI company on a multi-year contract.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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