AI Agent · Coinbase · ChatGPT · Claude · CNBC Technology
Coinbase introduces system to let AI agents manage trading and payments
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Coinbase on Thursday launched a new tool that gives AI agents the ability to trade and transact directly on users' behalf, representing a broader bet that AI agents will become a primary interface for people's financial activity.
Key facts
- The x402 protocol was created in May 2025 and has seen more than 100 million transactions since its debut, Murr said
- The whole idea is to give agents access to money and, through that financial independence, improve their set of capabilities to pretty much anything on the internet," Lincoln Murr, Coinbase's AI
- The launch comes right in the middle of an AI boom where agentic systems are one of the hottest investing themes
- Coinbase on Thursday launched a new tool that gives AI agents the ability to trade and transact directly on users' behalf, representing a broader bet that AI agents will become a primary interface
Summary
Coinbase for Agents will initially allow agents like ChatGPT or Claude to execute crypto trades using natural language instructions. Additionally, using Coinbase's machine-to-machine payments protocol, called x402, agents can pay directly for digital services like paywalled research, data APIs and on-demand compute without a human in the loop, and execute trades based on those insights. "The whole idea is to give agents access to money and, through that financial independence, improve their set of capabilities to pretty much anything on the internet," Lincoln Murr, Coinbase's AI product lead, told CNBC. The launch comes right in the middle of an AI boom where agentic systems are one of the hottest investing themes.
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