Crypto markets have traded broadly higher over the past several days, with Bitcoin climbing above $86,000 this week and reaching its highest level in eight months. The cryptocurrency is up about 8.8% in September after gaining roughly 25% in August. Ether has also strengthened, while XRP and other major altcoins have posted gains during the latest leg of the rally.
The gains come as institutional interest in crypto continues to broaden beyond investment products and toward a potentially much larger use case, giving artificial intelligence systems their own payment rails. Related: Coinbase's IPO move sends stock to four month high BlackRock said in a September report titled The Machine-Native Economy that the rise of agentic AI could become an "underappreciated source of demand, utility, and application growth" for digital assets. Agentic AI refers to systems that can plan and execute tasks with limited human intervention, including making purchases and initiating financial transactions.
The asset manager argues that as AI agents begin transacting independently, they will need payment systems designed for machines rather than humans. "Agentic commerce requires machine-native payment rails," BlackRock wrote, adding that stablecoins, native cryptocurrencies and other onchain assets could be used for payments and settlement. Analyst sells Bitcoin at $85K and his reason might surprise you Veteran trader who called 1980 gold crash sees 200% upside for Ether Analyst predicts 35% upside for Saylor's Strategy Existing systems such as card networks and ACH already support automation, but BlackRock said their onboarding and settlement structures can be less suited to always-on, low-value and programmable transactions.
BlackRock also cited simulations from the Bitcoin Policy Institute in which AI models generally favored stablecoins for everyday payments and Bitcoin for long-term value preservation.It did caution that the findings reflect simulated responses rather than actual agent behavior. That thesis is beginning to meet real-world experimentation. Meta and PayPal announced on Sept. 22 that users will be able to shop and check out with Meta's Muse AI agent across PayPal's merchant network worldwide.
"We're excited to partner with Meta to enable PayPal customers to seamlessly shop and check out using their Muse personal AI agents across PayPal merchants worldwide," PayPal said. Muse, launched Sept. 8, can perform tasks including booking travel, filling out forms and making purchases after receiving user approval. It quickly rose to the top of Apple's App Store rankings, overtaking ChatGPT among free apps.
PayPal also operates PayPal USD (PYUSD), its dollar-backed stablecoin, which became available across 70 markets in March. PayPal says PYUSD is designed for faster, lower-cost global payments. Neither Meta nor PayPal has said PYUSD will be used for Muse purchases.
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