Coinbase Bets on Agentic Finance as AI Agents Drive Demand

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes that artificial intelligence will increase demand for cryptocurrency rather than replace it. He argues that AI agents will use programmable money for autonomous transactions, driving up demand.

Chainalysis reported over 100 million x402 payments on Base, a low-cost Ethereum layer-2 network launched by Coinbase in February 2023. While early growth was driven by meme-coin farming, the number of transactions continues to grow.

Coinbase is building its 'Agentic Finance' (AiFi) payment stack using Base, USDC, x402, and agent wallets. Armstrong claims that AI agents will eventually complete more daily transactions than all people combined, although he does not provide a timeline for this forecast.