News
Public · Published
Why is BlackRock telling you the banks are finished?
BlackRock published an 11-page research note saying the traditional banking system cannot serve AI agents because agents cannot open bank accounts or get credit cards and will need programmable settlement rails to move money on their own.
Published:
Updated:
What happened
BlackRock published an 11-page research note saying the traditional banking system cannot serve AI agents because agents cannot open bank accounts or get credit cards and will need programmable settlement rails to move money on their own.
Confirmed
Global impact / market context
If AI agents need programmable settlement rails, which means automated payment systems, banks could lose fee income from payments and deposits, while crypto networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum and NEAR could gain usage and investor attention.
Analyst inference
BlackRock runs the largest Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, so its research supports a road it is already paving. Adjusted stablecoin volume passing 11 trillion dollars shows crypto payment rails already operate at scale, though that flow is not yet driven by agents.
Analyst inference
What to watch
- Marc Andreessen called the BlackRock argument the grand unification of AI and crypto, so watch whether other major investors repeat that framing and push more money toward crypto payment projects. Confirmed
- Watch whether banks or regulators propose rules letting AI agents hold accounts or make payments, because such rules would decide whether banks keep that business or lose it. Proposed
- Track Bitcoin, Ethereum and NEAR usage and fund flows, because BlackRock's ETF business and its agent-payment thesis could pull more investor money into these assets. Analyst inference
Affected assets
- NEAR — NEAR Protocol
- ETH — Ethereum
- BTC — Bitcoin