Today, AI agents are being given crypto and asked to manage it, albeit within permissions. Humans define the capital, intent, and boundaries within which agents are increasingly able to make economic decisions themselves. This is where crypto's next billion users will come from.
With infrastructure like the
@1inch MCP, an agent that could previously read your DeFi positions can now open and close them. Tell Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor the pair, and the agent can execute, once you sign that is.
Beyond just managing strategies, BlackRock’s recent paper outlines how at the same time crypto as an industry is set to benefit from the rise of AI agents. The rails we have built lend themselves naturally to virtual entities: no need for physical cards, bank tellers, or face recognition. What agents need are seamless, optimised rails and financial infrastructure that can operate digitally and autonomously.
For some time I have predicted that the next billion blockchain users may be AI agents. I still believe this, only now, I think it will happen sooner.
Crypto isn't just an asset class AI can trade. It may become part of the financial infrastructure AI operates on.
Our latest research paper explores the growing connection between AI and digital assets and explains why broad AI adoption may drive new demand, utility and applications across the digital asset economy.
blackrock.com/us/individual/…