Coinbase is developing a financial account for artificial intelligence agents, chief executive Brian Armstrong says, as the cryptocurrency exchange expands tools that already allow software to manage isolated portfolios and carry out selected trades.
Armstrong revealed the plans on 9 September in response to David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, who is widely known as DHH. Hansson asked which company would be first to create an “agentic bank” where a machine could receive an allowance and manage routine spending with permission.
“Coinbase is building the financial account for AI,” Armstrong responded.
The chief executive did not give a launch date or reveal a product name, fee structure or regulatory arrangements. His comment therefore indicates the direction Coinbase is pursuing, rather than confirming that a new banking product is ready to launch.
Coinbase’s existing documentation provides more detail about the company’s current AI-related services. Coinbase for Agents connects supported artificial intelligence applications with Coinbase Advanced Trade, allowing agents to access isolated portfolios and use cryptocurrency trading, derivatives, equities and portfolio management tools.
The service can be operated through a remote Model Context Protocol server or a local command-line interface. Customers can reduce their exposure by creating a separate portfolio, funding it only with assets they are willing to make available, and limiting the agent’s permissions to that account.
That arrangement is intended to control potential losses if an AI system misunderstands an instruction or submits an unexpected order.
Coinbase for Agents currently supports spot trading across more than 900 cryptocurrency pairs. It also offers eligible United States futures, S&P 500 equities, portfolio monitoring and conversions between USDC and US dollars. Access to equities and derivatives depends on customer eligibility and relevant regulatory restrictions.
Agents operating with authorised API permissions can transfer assets between approved Coinbase portfolios. However, Coinbase says those permissions cannot be used to withdraw funds to external blockchain addresses. Customers can also remove an application’s access through their Coinbase security settings.
The equity tools are part of Coinbase’s broader push beyond spot cryptocurrency trading. As crypto.news reported, the company has filed two registrations with the SEC for perpetual contracts linked to United States stocks, although those filings did not set a date for any product launch.
x402 payments are still in development
Coinbase is also working on x402, a payment protocol designed to allow people or machines to pay for online resources within an HTTP request. According to the company’s overview, agents could use it to buy tool calls, data or other digital services without going through a traditional checkout or signing up for a subscription.
Coinbase says its developer platform has processed more than 100 million x402 payments across Base and Solana. That figure, which comes from the company, measures payment activity but does not show how many separate users or autonomous agents initiated the transactions.
Direct x402 payments through Coinbase for Agents are still marked as “coming soon”. The proposed uses include paying for research, data APIs and computing resources consumed by an AI agent. Coinbase has not announced a firm date for the feature to become available.
Security researchers have raised concerns about the protocol. A study published in July 2026 reported rule violations involving 15 x402 facilitators and outlined possible risks including asset theft, unpaid use of services and gas abuse. The researchers said the providers affected, including Coinbase, acknowledged the findings and introduced measures to reduce those risks.
Coinbase also warns that artificial intelligence agents may make mistakes, misunderstand instructions or generate inaccurate results. Users remain responsible for reviewing and authorising trades, transfers and changes made through agent-led processes.
The company recommends that users specify the asset, amount, order type and portfolio clearly. Its testing found that some models selected the wrong trading pair or stopped after displaying a preview instead of completing an order.
Those limitations present a challenge to Armstrong’s longer-term vision of machines managing financial activities independently.
Coinbase has not said whether the planned financial account would include cards, bank transfers, recurring bill payments or direct purchases from merchants. It has also provided no details about identity checks, disputes, refunds or legal responsibility when software initiates a transaction.
For now, the next confirmed development would be the activation of x402 payments within Coinbase for Agents or a formal announcement setting out wider spending capabilities. Until then, Coinbase offers AI-connected trading with controlled portfolio access, rather than a fully autonomous bank account.
