Armstrong and others say autonomous software agents will eventually perform many more daily transactions than humans. Since digital programs cannot open bank accounts or wait days for wire transfers, real-time cryptography and blockchain represent the only alternative.
In his post, Armstrong said Coinbase plans to anchor this ecosystem, which he dubbed Agentic Finance (AiFi). The crypto trading platform uses the x402 protocol, which it developed and is now governed by the x402 Foundation, as well as its Base blockchain and Circle Internet’s USDC stablecoin to power these automated payments. Coinbase rolled out AI agent accounts that can trade and spend in June. Last week, it said Coinbase Business users would be able to accept payments from AI agents through x402.
However, industry builders note that moving money at machine speed requires solving structural bottlenecks across the entire technology stack.
“Agents not only need money, but they need money that moves at the speed of a machine,” Tory Green, CEO of decentralized network io.net, said Monday in a comment on Armstrong’s post. “Our entire financial infrastructure has evolved for the human interface. Money is just the first rail that has to catch up. Same story for compute, data, all of that.”
Other developers warn that giving unverified code direct access to financial assets exposes it to enormous counterparty risk.
