Coinbase CEO Says AI Fuels Demand for Crypto-Based Financial Services

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is pushing back against calls for crypto to pivot to artificial intelligence, arguing AI agents will instead stoke demand for crypto-based financial services.

Armstrong highlighted Coinbase's Base network, USDC and x402 as the infrastructure for autonomous machine-to-machine payments. He believes AI being a megatrend takes nothing away from crypto, because AI agents will need programmable money rather than traditional banking rails.

According to Armstrong, his agentic finance (AiFi) vision centers on the idea that AI agents will become active participants in the digital economy, making payments and interacting with financial services without human intervention.