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Coinbase CEO says crypto will power AI agent payments

Brian Armstrong framed “Agentic Finance” as complementary layers, arguing AI agents will need real time programmable money, which crypto can provide.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pushed back on the notion that crypto firms should “pivot to AI,” calling that advice a form of zero sum, scarcity thinking, according to Decrypt. He said crypto is general purpose infrastructure that supports AI rather than competing with it.

Armstrong argued that AI agents will require their own financial infrastructure to transact autonomously, because agents cannot open bank accounts, wait for wires, or operate from within a single country. He said the agents will need “real time programmable money,” which he described as crypto.

He laid out a “Agentic Finance,” or AiFi, vision in which AI supplies intelligence and crypto provides the money rails, enabling agents to trade, act as financial advisors, and raise or borrow funds for projects. Armstrong also described use cases ranging from tax planning and portfolio rebalancing to bill pay.

Armstrong pointed to Coinbase efforts tied to AiFi, including contributions to the x402 protocol and its Base blockchain, and he said the USDC stablecoin powers the vast majority of agentic payments. The comments come after Coinbase cut 14% of staff earlier this year as it aimed to rebuild “lean, fast, and AI-native,” with AI at its core.

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