Coinbase has launched infrastructure enabling AI agents to autonomously transact in cryptocurrency. The new Agentic Wallets, building on the company’s earlier AgentKit, utilize the x402 payments protocol. Separately, Lightning Labs released tools for AI to transact on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Industry leaders, including Circle’s Jeremy Allaire and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, predict widespread adoption of AI agents using crypto for payments.
Coinbase programmers have launched Agentic Wallets, infrastructure that allows autonomous AI agents to spend, earn, and trade crypto. The feature builds on the company’s AgentKit framework introduced in November 2024.
“The next generation of agents won’t just advise — they’ll act,” said programmers Erik Reppel and Josh Nickerson. They stated agents could monitor DeFi positions, rebalance portfolios, and pay for services autonomously using Coinbase’s x402 protocol, which has reportedly seen 50 million transactions.
Simultaneously, Lightning Labs released a new toolset enabling AI agents to transact on the Bitcoin Lightning Network using the L402 protocol standard. The agents can run a Lightning node and manage a wallet containing native Bitcoin.
Also this week, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek launched a platform called ai.com for creating personal AI agents. These agents can manage emails, schedule meetings, cancel subscriptions, and perform shopping tasks on a user’s behalf.
Major industry executives are voicing strong support for this technological shift. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire predicted billions of AI agents will transact with crypto and stablecoins within three to five years.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has stated that “native currency for AI agents is going to be crypto.” He believes these agents will handle tasks from buying tickets to paying restaurant bills.
Outside the crypto sector, Google introduced its Universal Commerce Protocol on January 11 to power agentic commerce. The protocol uses Google’s Agent Payment Protocol 2, with Google Pay as the default handler for US dollar transactions.
