The cryptocurrency sector is going through a new phase where several companies are reorienting their communication towards AI. This development is sparking reactions within the industry, notably at Coinbase. Its general director, Brian Armstrong, believes that this opposition between blockchain and artificial intelligence is based on a misreading of technological developments. According to him, these two areas should not be seen as competitors, but as technologies capable of working together to support future digital uses.
In brief
- Brian Armstrong criticizes crypto projects that abandon blockchain in favor of AI.
- Coinbase CEO says blockchain and AI are complementary, not competitive.
- Coinbase is developing Agentic Finance to facilitate automated payments between AI agents.
- The platform leverages Base, the x402 protocol and USDC to build this ecosystem.
- Several players in the sector, however, point out that security and trust remain major challenges.
Coinbase rejects opposition between blockchain and AI
Brian Armstrong has taken a stand against a trend that is gaining ground in the digital assets industry. Several companies are now putting more emphasis on artificial intelligence than blockchain in order to capture the attention of investors. For the head of Coinbase, this approach is based on a logic of scarcity which opposes two technologies that are nevertheless complementary.
In a article published on X Sunday, he explained that cryptocurrencies represent a general infrastructure, comparable to the Internet or electricity.
Crypto is a general-purpose technology. It is an infrastructure, just like electricity or the Internet. It doesn’t compete with the next big thing because it underpins it.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. Source: X / @brian_armstrong
According to him, they are not intended to compete with AI, but to provide the foundations necessary for the development of the next innovations. He summarizes this vision with a simple formula: it is an “and”, not an “or”. Coinbase thus defends a strategy where blockchain and artificial intelligence progress together.
This position comes as several companies are changing their image to place more emphasis on artificial intelligence. Brian Armstrong considers that this change in discourse does not necessarily reflect a profound transformation of activities. He prefers to point out that blockchain infrastructures retain a central role in the development of future digital services. For Coinbase, this development therefore does not call into question the usefulness of decentralized networks.
The phenomenon also recalls certain trends observed during previous technological cycles. In a analysis published in April, the Wall Street Journal compared this wave around AI to the strategic changes observed during the Internet bubble or during the blockchain craze in 2017. The historical data cited shows that companies incorporating popular terms in their name often record an average increase of more than 50% in their stock price in the short term, a movement linked more to fashion effects than to a structural evolution.
A strategy focused on automated payments for intelligent agents
Beyond this criticism, Brian Armstrong also presents the direction that Coinbase wishes to take. He believes that autonomous software agents have a financial infrastructure with which they could ultimately carry out more daily transactions than human users.
AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure and will eventually conduct a daily trading volume far greater than that of all humans combined. They can’t open a bank account, they can’t wait three days for a transfer, they live in only one country. They need real-time programmable currency (this is where crypto comes in)
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase. Source: X / @brian_armstrong
For him, traditional financial systems have several limitations, in particular because these programs cannot open bank accounts or wait several days to make a transfer. On this point, crypto remains their ideal solution.
And to meet these needs, the Coinbase CEO mentioned an ecosystem the company is developing called Agentic Finance, or AiFi. This approach is based on several technological building blocks already implemented by the company. The platform is based in particular on the x402 protocolnow administered by the x402 Foundation, on its Base blockchain as well as on Circle Internet’s stablecoin USDC in order to enable automated payments between software.
The company is also continuing to deploy new tools. In June, Coinbase launched accounts intended for agents capable of directly making payments and expenses. Last week, the company also announced that Coinbase Business users could now accept payments made by these agents using the x402 protocol. The goal is to prepare an environment where transactions can flow automatically between different digital services using AI.
This strategy illustrates the vision defended by Brian Armstrong. Rather than replacing blockchain with artificial intelligence, he wants to build an infrastructure capable of meeting the economic needs of future autonomous software. In this approach, the blockchain becomes the support for financial exchanges carried out without human intervention.
The ecosystem still highlights several technical challenges
While this vision appeals to part of the sector, several players point out that significant obstacles remain. Current financial infrastructures were not designed to allow instantaneous exchanges between machines. According to them, this evolution requires much more than payment automation.
Tory Green, general manager of the decentralized network io.net, commented Armstrong’s article stating that:
Agents need not just money, but money that moves at machine speed. Our entire financial system evolved for human interaction. Money is only the first link in the chain that still needs to adapt. The same scenario looms for computing, data, and everything else.
Tory Green, general manager of the decentralized network io.net. Source: X / @MTorygreen
He explains that all current financial infrastructure has been designed to meet the needs of human users. In his view, the challenges also concern computing power, data and the entire technology chain. This analysis is consistent with Coinbase’s vision, which considers that blockchain can serve as the basis for future automated exchanges.
Other developers, however, highlight security issues. They point out that allowing unverified software to directly control financial assets can create significant counterparty risk. The NeoSoul AI project estimates in its comment on Armstrong’s post that ” establishing an automated economy requires additional mechanisms before digital wallets can be entrusted to autonomous agents”.
According to this project, the reputation and memory of agents must become essential elements of this ecosystem. Without a reliable history, it would be difficult to place sufficient trust in a program responsible for managing funds. This reflection shows that the development of uses around AI will also depend on technical guarantees capable of supporting this automation.
Brian Armstrong’s statements thus open a broader debate on the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry. Coinbase defends complementarity between blockchain and artificial intelligence, while several players point out the challenges still present. Future technological advances will make it possible to measure whether this convergence is accompanied by an infrastructure sufficiently robust to meet the needs of future autonomous agents.
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