BlackRock: Blockchains Will Evolve from Speculative Rails into Decentralized Value Settlement Networks for AI Agents In a research whitepaper on AI and digital assets, global asset manager BlackRock highlights an unprecedented convergence between artificial intelligence and digital assets, noting that an autonomous AI agent economy urgently requires machine-native financial settlement rails. The whitepaper outlines three core intersection scenarios: first, high-frequency, automated machine-to-machine micropayments, where autonomous AI agents can settle natively in fiat-backed stablecoins without human intervention via protocols such as x402, Stripe and Tempo’s MPP, and OpenAI’s ACP. Second, the programmable interaction of tokenized financial assets, allowing AI systems to execute trades and manage funds directly via smart contracts across tokenized real-world assets (RWAs); and third, the financialization and collateralization of computer resources as digital assets. BlackRock emphasizes that against the backdrop of adjusted stablecoin transaction volumes surpassing $11 trillion in 2025 and emerging regulatory clarity across the US, Europe, and APAC, the blockchain layer is fundamentally evolving from a vehicle for human speculation into the decentralized value settlement network powering an autonomous machine economy.

POKT | INFRA WATCH 👀 Usage Is Growing. Infrastructure Is Evolving. Since October 13, Pocket Network has shown progress on two fronts: growing Agentic Portal activity and an upcoming consensus-breaking mainnet upgrade. 1. Agentic Portal — Real Usage Growth Latest dashboard snapshot (Oct 22): • 51,926 requests / 30D • 30,867 requests / 7D • 4,154 requests / 24H • 93 active agents / 30D • 117 live services • 1,572ms median latency • $0.005 displayed price per call On October 13, the 30-day request count stood at 17,342. It has now reached 51,926 — nearly 3x the previous rolling total. Meanwhile, live services increased from 113 to 117. This is an important distinction. The growth isn't just about adding more services. Existing infrastructure is seeing greater activity. However, rising request counts alone do not prove independent customer adoption or sustainable revenue. 2. Mainnet v0.1.36 — Preparing the Network Scheduled for October 27, the consensus-breaking upgrade introduces several important changes: • Claim and proof processing optimizations • Improvements to supplier recovery after slashing • Service metadata update events • Infrastructure for service-based staking requirements • Security and verification improvements One particularly interesting addition is the ability to define additional staking requirements for suppliers serving multiple services. The current additional-service stake parameter is set to zero, so this does not create immediate new POKT lockup demand. But it introduces a mechanism worth monitoring as the service ecosystem expands. 3. The Next Phase — Usage → Economic Value POKT is making measurable progress in infrastructure and marketplace activity. But the next questions matter more than the headlines: • Are independent agents becoming repeat paying customers? • Can request growth translate into meaningful revenue? • How much activity reaches the underlying POKT network? • Does increased usage produce measurable net token burn? • Can the network scale without sacrificing reliability? The infrastructure is evolving. The usage signals are improving. Now the challenge is turning that activity into durable economic demand. Following the rails, not the noise. 👀 $POKT @POKTnetwork Sources: agent.pocket.network github.com/pokt-network/pokt… @organicryptoyyc

I don’t think people realize how hard Crypto is about to pump.

😊 I also just uploaded a new version of the lecture notes. cs229.stanford.edu/main_note… (it's still, and perhaps will always be work-in-progress, given the field is moving fast. Any mistakes are mine :) and any feedback is more than welcome :).

My last 8 days Proof of Work. Working as intended. @POKTnetwork Waiting for another July 13th type day to see what type of traction we get. Home Built in 1 day. Refined over a week. 19 Sales options. Ask a Q, get a Verified response. Accepts payment in PEAQ/SOL Agentic AI -