Coinbase CEO: AI will make crypto technology more important, and agent payments may become a key application

Bitcoin.com News reported on July 28 that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that AI will make cryptocurrency more important rather than be replaced. AI agents will rely on stablecoins and blockchain networks for payments, transactions, and financial services, and the daily transaction volume completed by AI agents in the future may exceed the total of all humans. He pointed out that the traditional banking system is not designed for 24/7 software operations, and AI agents require real-time programmable money. Coinbase is positioning USDC, the Base blockchain, and the x402 payment protocol as core infrastructure for this market, where x402 allows software to pay for online resources through machine-readable payment requests. Armstrong said these tools already support most agent-driven payments, and Coinbase calls this strategy "Agent Finance" (AiFi). Recently, Coinbase Business launched AI agent payment functionality for USDC for businesses, calling it a "high-conviction bet."