AI agents could outspend humans, Coinbase CEO says
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says AI agents could create an economy larger than human commerce as machine-to-machine payments move onto crypto rails. SummaryBrian Armstrong says machine-to-machine payments could lift demand for digital dollars beyond current estimates.x402 recorded 75.41 million transactions and $24.24 million volume over the last 30 days.Base and USDC remain central to Coinbases plan for AI agent payments and commerce. Armstrong wrote on X that agentic commerce is not yet priced in and said machine-to-machine payments could increase demand for digital dollars beyond current estimates. He added, “The agentic economy could be larger than the human economy.” The statement builds on Coinbases wider push into AI agent payments. The company has been building payment tools that let software agents pay for APIs, data, cloud services, and other digital products without a human approving every transaction. Coinbase has focused on stablecoins because AI agents need payments that work at internet speed. In its Q1 2026 earnings call, Coinbase said USDC and Base power most on-chain stablecoin transactions for AI agents. You might also like: Japan AI-blockchain finance plan backs yen stablecoins The company also said AI agents use USDC in 99% of those transactions, while more than 90% run on Base. It said agents are already








