Coinbase CEO Slams Crypto Firms' AI Pivots as 'Zero Sum Thinking'

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has come out against cryptocurrency companies that pivot from blockchain technology to artificial intelligence (AI), calling it 'zero sum, scarcity thinking.'

Armstrong made his comments on social media platform X, where he argued that crypto is a general-purpose technology like electricity or the internet.

'It's an *and*, not an *or*', he wrote. AI being a 'megatrend' doesn't detract from crypto but adds to its importance, Armstrong added.

He pointed out that AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure and will eventually transact far more per day than all humans combined. They can't open a bank account or wait for wire transfers, so they'll require real-time programmable money, which is where crypto comes in.