Coinbase CEO: AI's Rise Won't Shrink Crypto Market

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong rejects the notion that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will shrink the cryptocurrency market, instead arguing that AI's spread will increase the need for blockchain and crypto.

Armstrong made these remarks on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, where he also pushed back against views that see AI and crypto as competitors. He called such thinking 'zero sum, scarcity thinking,' saying it overlooks the symbiotic relationship between the two technologies.

'Crypto is a general-purpose technology like the internet,' Armstrong explained. 'It's not something that competes with new trendy technologies but an underlying technology that supports them.'

The Coinbase CEO emphasized that AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure, which will drive up demand for blockchain and crypto. He pointed out that AI agent payments are already supported by Coinbase's Base, USDC, and x402 protocol.