Coinbase Enables Business Payments from AI Agents via Stablecoin
Coinbase has rolled out new tools that enable businesses to accept payments from AI agents using USDC, the US dollar stablecoin. The update is available for Coinbase Business users and uses the x402 protocol, a standard developed by Coinbase in May 2025. This allows stablecoin payments to be made over HTTP, enabling AI agents to pay for services just like humans use credit cards online.
The new tools include a payment acceptance feature that can be added to any API using just three lines of code, courtesy of the x402 software development kit (SDK) released by Coinbase. Developers can also build applications that work with AI agents making payments using this SDK. The company notes that agent-generated traffic on its Base documentation pages exceeded human traffic for the first time last month.
Coinbase's Head of Business, Sid Coelho-Prabhu, described the development as building the checkout experience for the agentic economy. This means that AI agents can create their own wallets, read documentation, and start transacting without any extra setup on the business side. Payments are processed through Coinbase Payments and settled in USDC.