Coinbase CEO: AI Agents Will Fuel Demand for Programmable Money

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong argues that artificial intelligence agents will drive demand for programmable money, positioning cryptocurrency as more relevant, not less.

Armstrong framed his argument around 'agentic finance', describing Coinbase's Base network alongside USDC and the x402 payment protocol as key components for machine-to-machine payments. He believes AI agents need a payment mechanism that software can initiate without relying on traditional banking checkout steps.

The agentic payments stack centers on Base, USDC, and x402, built for automated stablecoin transfers between applications. Chainalysis reported in June that agentic payments on Base via x402 surpassed 100 million transactions within about nine months of tracked activity.