Coinbase is taking its use of artificial intelligence to the next level, equipping its internal AI agents with stablecoin wallets that will allow them to make autonomous payments using crypto rails.

Those wallets already enable secure, gasless transactions with strict spending limits set by humans. Now, the same infrastructure is being extended to Coinbase’s own AI systems.

Coinbase’s AI agents are already deeply embedded in the business. They write more than 50% of the company’s code and resolve 60% of all customer support tickets. With stablecoin wallets, powered by assets such as USDC, the agents will be able to execute instant, borderless payments that traditional banking rails simply cannot match in speed or cost.

“This shift positions AI agents as key players in the emerging machine economy,” Armstrong stated.
The vision is clear: autonomous systems that can transact with one another onchain, 24/7, without human intervention for every micro-payment.

Industry observers are divided on what comes next. Optimists predict a wave of massive onchain buying activity as AI agents begin spending independently, everything from cloud compute credits to data subscriptions and beyond. Skeptics, however, point out that the agents still operate under human direction and warn that security risks around autonomous wallets remain a serious concern.

Coinbase has not yet disclosed the exact timeline for rolling out the new wallets or the full scope of transactions the agents will be authorized to handle. The company emphasized that human-set spending limits and multi-layered security protocols will remain in place.

As AI and cryptocurrency converge, Coinbase’s experiment could mark the beginning of a broader transition toward a true machine-to-machine economy — one where agents don’t just write code and answer support queries, but also move real money at the speed of the blockchain.