Coinbase advances AI-crypto integration with Agentic Wallets

Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain infrastructure providers, revealed a major new push at the intersection of artificial intelligence and decentralized finance with the launch of Agentic Wallets, purpose‑built crypto wallets designed to empower autonomous AI agents to act as independent financial actors onchain.

This advanced tool enables AI agents, such as self-operating bots capable of interacting with the internet, to manage their own funds, send payments, trade tokens, earn interest, and transact directly on the blockchain. Moreover, a blog post published on Wednesday, February 11, noted that this tool features built-in security to safeguard against misuse.

The new infrastructure release marks a shift in how AI and blockchain technologies can interact: instead of merely suggesting decisions, AI systems can now hold funds, execute transactions, trade tokens, earn yield, and participate in onchain economic activity without human approval—so long as preset security guardrails and permissions are in place.

As crypto exchanges advance, Coinbase Developer Platform developers Erik Reppel and Josh Nickerson noted that AI agents are being integrated into nearly every workflow, performing various roles, such as providing document summaries, answering inquiries, and assisting with tasks. However, they alleged that these agents are currently encountering significant problems, particularly when handling financial matters.

Coinbase embraces the use of Agentic Wallets amid the AI boom era 

Regarding Coinbase’s recent move, reports from reliable sources reveal that Agentic Wallets is upgrading to the x402 protocol, which the cryptocurrency exchange co-developed with key internet partners to enable machine-native payments via blockchain, removing the need for human oversight amid heightened interest in AI’s rapidly evolving ecosystem.

These sources also disclosed that the advanced tool builds on the AgentKit tool, Coinbase’s software development toolkit that enables artificial intelligence agents to securely and autonomously interact with blockchain networks, allowing for wallet inclusion during agent setup.

Contrastingly, reports highlighted that Agentic Wallets provide an instant solution, enabling any agent with a wallet to facilitate transactions on behalf of users.

Reppel and Nickerson attempted to elaborate further, stating that: “If your agent finds a better yield opportunity at 3 AM? It will automatically adjust without needing approval because you’ve already set the permissions and controls.”

In the meantime, the blog recently published mentioned that Agentic Wallets will begin by partnering with EVM chains and Solana, and they can autonomously execute gasless transactions on Coinbase’s Base Layer 2.

Notably, these wallets feature a command-line interface that empowers users to monitor agents, manage wallet funds, and deploy new skills with simple commands. On the other hand, reports confirmed that the team also launched a repository known as agent-wallet-skills to grant agents basic command privileges.

Moreover, the wallets feature Smart Security Guardrails, including programmable spending restrictions, session caps, and other advanced transaction controls.

Developers argue AI is shifting from recommending ideas to executing tasks

Earlier, Reppel and Nickerson argued that the process of launching agents has become exceptionally streamlined. They made this argument without pointing out popular AI agent systems such as Clawbot/OpenClaw, a wrapper for Anthropic’s Claude LLM, widely recognized by users seeking an LLM for email replies.

“We’re transitioning from AI agents that provide advice to agents that take action,” the developers explained, further noting that, “We’re moving from assistants that suggest ideas to helpers that carry out tasks. We’re evolving from tools needing constant human oversight to autonomous systems functioning independently within trusted guardrails.” 

Following their remarks, sources mentioned that x402 has processed 50 million transactions since launching last year. As competition in the ecosystem intensified, Coinbase released an enhanced 2.0 version of its open-source protocol in December 2025.  This upgrade was partially intended to provide broader support for legacy payment systems.

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