BlackRock 2026 Outlook: Why Have Digital Assets Become Financial "Infrastructure" and a New Investment Paradigm in the AI Era?

“AI infrastructure investments could reach $5-8 trillion, large enough to have a ‘micro’ impact on the ‘macro’.” The world’s largest asset management firm BlackRock recently released the “2026 Global Investment Outlook” report, which immediately highlights the core characteristics of the current era. This report not only sets the tone for traditional financial markets but also, with an unusually clear stance, delivers a landmark declaration of “rebranding” for the digital asset space: digital assets, especially stablecoins, are evolving from speculative tools into the “infrastructure” for payments and settlements.

Shift in Perspective: From “Speculative Assets” to “Financial Pipelines”

BlackRock clearly states in the report that it views digital assets (especially stablecoins) as “financial system pipelines,” rather than merely speculative assets. This shift in wording is key to understanding the evolution of the financial landscape over the next decade. The report describes stablecoins as “digital dollar rails,” believing they are transforming from native crypto tools into bridges connecting traditional finance and digital liquidity.

This means that large institutions are reassessing cryptocurrencies from a pragmatic system architecture perspective, with their core value lying in solving practical issues in cross-border payments, settlement efficiency, and fragmentation in traditional finance.

Microcosm Reflecting Macrocosm: How the Investments of a Few Giants Are Reshaping Everything

The core theme of the BlackRock report, “Microcosm Reflecting Macrocosm,” provides an excellent framework for understanding current capital flows. The report points out that AI infrastructure construction is dominated by a few tech giants, with capital expenditures so large that they can influence the overall macroeconomy. An astonishing forecast is that between 2025 and 2030, total AI-related investments could reach $5 trillion to $8 trillion.

Such concentrated capital in the hands of a few companies has led to an unprecedented phenomenon: the business decisions (micro) of these companies are sufficient to influence national and even global economic growth, interest rate policies, and capital markets (macro).

BlackRock estimates that, by 2026, AI investments will contribute three times the historical average to U.S. economic growth. This highly concentrated capital expenditure also brings two major challenges: “leverage escalation” and “illusion of diversification.”

Integration and Opportunities: When Traditional Finance Meets On-Chain Infrastructure

In an AI-driven landscape of high-frequency and automated economies, the demand for efficient, low-friction financial “pipelines” has become more urgent than ever. This is the historic opportunity for the rise of stablecoins and broader tokenized assets (RWA).

Stablecoins are becoming the core of settlement layers: this trend is no longer a blueprint but an ongoing process. For example, payment giant Visa has launched USDC-based settlement services in the U.S., utilizing the Solana blockchain to achieve near real-time, 24/7 settlements.

RWA tokenization has crossed a critical threshold: BlackRock itself is a pioneer in this field. Its tokenized U.S. Treasury bond fund BUIDL has become a market benchmark. The fund’s market cap has exceeded $23 billion, and it has distributed over $100 million in returns to holders.

The BUIDL fund is now available on nine mainstream blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain, with its tokens even accepted as collateral for OTC trading on top global exchanges. This perfectly illustrates how “traditional assets on-chain” can serve as high-quality liquidity tools, seamlessly connecting two worlds.

AI Agent Economy: The Next Explosion Point for Crypto Payments

Looking ahead to 2026, a crypto-native trend resonating deeply with BlackRock’s “AI as Macro” theme is emerging: the AI agent economy.

Several leading research institutions predict that AI agents with independent wallets, capable of initiating and executing complex transactions autonomously, will become key participants in on-chain economic activity. This will create a rigid demand for machine-native, high-concurrency, ultra-low-cost micro-payment settlement layers, with public blockchains and stablecoins being the only currently feasible solution.

It is foreseeable that supporting intelligent agents in data procurement, compute rental, and service micro-payments will become the next explosive growth point for stablecoin trading volume.

Reconstructing Investment Logic from an Institutional Perspective

In the face of a financial landscape redefined by AI and digital assets, BlackRock has outlined a new framework for investors.

First, embrace a “risk-friendly” stance but remain flexible. The overall stance remains “risk-on,” with an overweight position in U.S. equities (especially AI-related sectors), but also a warning against the “illusion of diversification,” which could lead to unintentional concentration bets on a few tech giants.

Second, active management outperforms passive indexing. In a structurally trending market driven by major themes, identifying winners actively and constructing truly differentiated portfolios becomes crucial.

Finally, consider digital assets as an allocation option. When BlackRock defines stablecoins as “infrastructure,” the implicit message is that related asset classes (such as certain on-chain tokens providing critical infrastructure services, compliant stablecoin projects, etc.) now have a fundamental logic for inclusion in institutional considerations.

As of January 13, 2026, according to Gate data, one of the core assets representing the smart contract platform sector, Ethereum (ETH), has shown resilience amid macro uncertainties, reflecting narratives of institutional adoption. Meanwhile, assets serving as the core carriers for RWA and stablecoin settlement are supported by long-term value logic, increasingly reinforced by successful practices like BlackRock’s BUIDL fund.

BlackRock’s 2026 outlook, like a “fusion declaration” from the traditional financial power centers, clearly states that the future has arrived: an AI-driven productivity revolution requires matching financial infrastructure. Blockchain-based digital assets—from stablecoins as “pipelines” to tokenized real-world assets representing “future cash flows”—are filling this gap. The investment paradigm is shifting from chasing pure asset price fluctuations to identifying and investing in protocols and projects that build the next-generation global value transfer network infrastructure. For every market participant, understanding this cognitive shift from “speculative assets” to “financial infrastructure” may be the key starting point to seize the next cycle’s opportunities.