Macro investor Raoul Pal critiqued BlackRock’s perspective on tokenizing AI compute on Wednesday, arguing that the machine economy requires tokenization on a far broader scale.
Turning AI Compute Into Token?
BlackRock’s whitepaper highlighted compute as a potential “new large market for digital assets,” where autonomous AI agents could source, optimize and pay for resources in real time through tokenized contracts and derivatives.
The whitepaper also noted that the rise of agentic AI systems “will likely increase demand” for payment rails like stablecoins and blockchains.
Pal Says Everything Will Get Tokenized
Pal argued that BlackRock’s thesis stops at money and compute, ignoring the potential for tokenization to extend to identity, contracts, attention, energy, and information itself.
“The machine economy needs far more than that,” said the Real Vision CEO. “All of it gets tokenised, and most of those asset classes don’t exist yet.”
Pal pointed to their X article published Tuesday, where he said that the financial industry’s current focus on tokenized securities represents only the first stage of a much larger transition.
“Everything will be a token,” he argued, revisiting a thesis he first developed in 2014 when he described blockchain as a potential global ownership ledger.
The Next Big Thing?
Tokenization is suddenly a hot topic in the U.S. after the SEC introduced a five-year temporary regulatory pathway for trading certain tokenized U.S. stocks on blockchain-based venues.
Additionally, Michael Selig said U.S. financial markets need to prepare for “mass tokenization” and 24/7 on-chain finance, adding that blockchain-based assets could allow collateral to move in real time and transactions to settle almost instantly.
The total value of the tokenized assets has exceeded $348 billion, with over 310 million asset holders, according to Token Terminal.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Login to comment