Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has pushed back against crypto companies rebranding as artificial intelligence firms. He argued that blockchain technology serves as foundational infrastructure that complements rather than competes with AI.
Armstrong made the comments in a Sunday post on X. He described the trend of pivoting away from crypto as "zero-sum, scarcity thinking" and stated that the relationship between the two fields is "an 'and,' not an 'or.'"
The executive outlined Coinbase's plans to support what he called Agentic Finance. The company is using its x402 protocol, Base blockchain and USDC stablecoin to enable AI agents to handle real-time payments, trading and spending.
Coinbase deployed AI agent accounts in June. Last week the firm announced that Coinbase Business users would be able to accept payments from AI agents via the x402 protocol.
Industry figures reacted with a mix of support and caution. Tory Green, CEO of io.net, noted that the financial system must adapt to machine-speed transactions, while others warned of risks in granting unvetted agents direct access to capital.
