Brian Armstrong says AI agents will out-transact humans using crypto

Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said artificial intelligence and crypto are not rival trends. Summary Armstrong expects autonomous AI agents to conduct more daily transactions than humans through crypto infrastructure. Coinbase is developing Agentic Finance around x402, Base, USDC, wallets, trading tools and business payments. Recent research questions x402 adoption metrics and identifies security weaknesses across facilitator-led machine payment systems. Instead, he argued that crypto will provide financial infrastructure for autonomous AI agents. In a July 27 post on X, Armstrong said agents “will eventually transact far more per day than all humans combined.” He presented that outcome as a forecast for payments and other financial actions online. "If you're in crypto, pivot to AI."I used to hear versions of this, and it's the wrong way to think about the world. It's zero sum, scarcity thinking.Crypto is a general purpose technology. It's infrastructure, the same way electricity or the internet is infrastructure. It…— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) July 26, 2026 Armstrong said AI agents cannot use traditional banking services like people or companies. They may need t...