Coinbase CEO: AI Will Make Cryptocurrency More Important, Coinbase is Building Agentic Finance

Brian Armstrong posted on X platform, stating that the worldview of "if you're in crypto, pivot to AI" is incorrect; it represents zero-sum, scarcity thinking. Cryptocurrency is a universal technology and infrastructure, similar to electricity or the internet. It does not compete with the next big thing but rather supports it. The emergence of AI as a major trend will not weaken cryptocurrency; on the contrary, it will make cryptocurrency more important. AI Agents will require their own financial infrastructure, and in the future, their daily transaction volume will far exceed that of all humans combined. AI Agents cannot open bank accounts, cannot wait for three-day wire transfers, and are not limited to a single country; they need real-time programmable money. AI Agents will need to hold funds themselves and pay fees. Coinbase has already been exploring this direction through the x402 protocol, Base, and USDC, and these technologies currently underpin the vast majority of Agentic payments. AI Agents will also participate in trading, act as financial advisors, raise or borrow funds for new projects, and handle tasks such as tax planning, portfolio rebalancing, and bill payment. Brian Armstrong stated that this is Agentic Finance, or AiFi, and Coinbase is building this domain.