Coinbase launches AI agent for crypto trading and machine-to-machine payments
The launch follows similar moves by Robinhood and broader industry shifts toward agentic commerce, drawing regulatory attention from the Financial Stability Board.
Coinbase has introduced a new artificial intelligence agent designed to execute cryptocurrency trades and facilitate payments for premium research data. The platform utilises the open x402 payment protocol, developed in collaboration with AWS, Anthropic, Circle, and Near, to enable seamless machine-to-machine transactions for data APIs without requiring user logins or subscriptions.
Users can integrate the agent with their main Coinbase account or operate it within a separate sandbox environment. The tool leverages features from Coinbase Advanced, including TradingView charts, to analyse and execute trades. Capabilities include portfolio rebalancing, following specific investment theses, and executing one-off trades in crypto spot markets and derivatives.
The agent is accessible via Coinbase Advanced and can also function within ChatGPT or Claude through its MCP server. While current support is limited to digital assets, the company has outlined plans to add equities and prediction markets in the future. Custom limits for maximum trade size, permissible services, and spending caps are also scheduled for release.
Lincoln Murr, Head of AI Product at Coinbase, stated that the company aims to build a product for a future where most internet access is through agents. He noted that unlike pure trading platforms, Coinbase combines exchange access with a native payments protocol to create a fundamentally different product for the agentic economy.
The launch follows a similar announcement by trading platform Robinhood, which introduced agents for user trading days prior. The rapid development in agentic payments has also attracted attention from global financial regulators. The Financial Stability Board has called for strong safeguards to mitigate AI risks as the sector expands.
Broader industry movement in this space includes Visa’s recent investment in Replit and a partnership with OpenAI to explore agentic payment products. Coinbase has been investing in AI tools for several years, having launched AgentKit in 2024 to allow developers to integrate automated wallets into applications.
