Coinbase launches tool that lets AI agents trade and act on users' behalf

Coinbase Global has today launched a product called “Coinbase for Agents”, which is aimed at giving AI agents direct access to user accounts and allowing them to pull market data and execute crypto trades, as well as pay for services within limits set by the user. 

The platform works with AI assistants, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration for web-based tools and includes a separate command-line interface (CLI) for developers, according to Lincoln Murr, Coinbase’s head of AI product. Terminal-based environments such as Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Hermes Agent are supported through the CLI version.

“We believe agents are no longer a niche developer curiosity, but really a primary way people interact with the internet,” Murr said.

Coinbase’s agent capabilities

Users can ask an agent to help with multiple actions, including the execution of a trading strategy based on an investment plan, one-time analysis on a specific position, or even rebalancing an entire portfolio totally. The agents work with Coinbase Advanced, the company’s professional trading tier, for both analysis and execution.

At launch, connected AI agents have permission to trade across Coinbase’s spot crypto and derivatives markets. The exchange plans to add equities and prediction markets later.

On the payments side, agents use x402, an open protocol Coinbase developed alongside AWS, Anthropic, Circle, and Near. Through x402, an agent is allowed to purchase premium research data or on-demand computing resources without a subscription or human sign-offs. The protocol has handled 75 million transactions and $24 million in volume over the past 30 days, according to The Next Web.

“Unlike pure trading platforms, we’re the only one that combines exchange access with a native payments protocol,” Murr said. “We’re aiming to build a fundamentally different product for a future where most of the internet is accessed through agents.”

Security risks amid growing AI agent industry

Security risks are very valid, as AI-powered crypto exploits drained $600 million from decentralized finance protocols in April alone. An agent authorized to trade and spend introduces a new potential entry point for bad actors.

Coinbase has stated that agents can control isolated portfolios, which are separate from a user’s main holdings, and custom controls for spending caps, trade limits, and restrictions on the services an agent is permitted to access are features that have been integrated, according to the announcement.

The AI agent industry is growing rapidly. Robinhood (HOOD) announced its own AI agent product only last month, with crypto payments firm MoonPay launching MoonAgents, a desktop app that connects Claude and OpenAI Codex to crypto wallets and blockchain services, earlier in the month.

Moving slightly away from crypto, Mastercard this week introduced Agent Pay for Machines, a platform for autonomous machine-to-machine payments backed by more than 30 partners, including Coinbase, Stripe, Cloudflare, and Ripple.

Coinbase also introduced Coinbase Advisor alongside the agent launch, an in-app financial advisor the company described as registered with the SEC and CFTC, providing AI-powered recommendations straight from the Coinbase app.

The crypto exchange has also cited forecasts that autonomous agents could represent as much as 20% of e-commerce transactions by 2030.

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