Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on Sept. 9 that the company is building a financial account designed for AI agents. Coinbase’s current tools already allow AI agents to access separate portfolios and carry out supported trading activities.
Armstrong made the comment after David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, asked which company would build the first “agentic bank,” where a machine could receive an allowance and manage everyday expenses.
Armstrong replied that Coinbase is building the financial account for AI. He did not provide a launch date, product name, fees or details about how the planned service would be regulated.
Coinbase’s existing Coinbase for Agents service already connects supported AI applications with Coinbase Advanced Trade. It can work through a remote Model Context Protocol server or a local command-line interface.
One of the key features is the use of separate portfolios. Coinbase recommends that users create an isolated portfolio, fund it only with money they are willing to expose and give the AI agent limited permissions. This can reduce potential losses if an agent misunderstands an instruction or makes an unexpected trade.
The service currently supports spot trading across more than 900 cryptocurrency pairs. It also supports eligible U.S. futures, S&P 500 stocks, portfolio monitoring and conversions between USDC and U.S. dollars. Access to stocks and derivatives depends on customer eligibility and applicable rules.
Agents can move assets between authorized Coinbase portfolios using their API permissions, but those permissions do not allow them to withdraw funds directly to outside blockchain addresses. Users can also remove an application’s access through their Coinbase security settings.
Coinbase is also working on x402, a payment system that allows people or AI agents to pay for online services directly through an internet request. This could allow an AI agent to pay for research, data, software tools or computing without using a traditional checkout or subscription.
Coinbase says more than 100 million x402 payments have been processed across Base and Solana. However, this figure does not show how many individual users or AI agents made those payments.
Direct x402 payments through Coinbase for Agents are still listed as coming soon. Coinbase has not announced a firm launch date for those features.
There are also security concerns around autonomous payments. A July 2026 study found potential problems involving several x402 facilitators, including risks related to asset theft, unpaid services and misuse of network fees. The researchers said affected providers acknowledged the findings and introduced measures to address them.
Coinbase also warns users that AI agents can make mistakes, misunderstand instructions or produce incorrect results. Users remain responsible for trades, transfers and other actions carried out through their agent.
The company recommends clearly specifying the asset, amount, order type and portfolio when giving an agent instructions. Its testing has shown that some AI models can select the wrong trading pair or stop after showing an order preview instead of actually executing the trade.
Coinbase has not yet explained whether its planned AI financial account will include bank transfers, cards, recurring payments or direct merchant payments. It has also not provided details about refunds, disputes, identity checks or who would be responsible when an AI agent makes a financial transaction.
For now, Coinbase has an AI-connected trading system with controlled portfolio access, but it is not yet a fully autonomous bank account. The next major step will likely come through a formal product announcement or the launch of broader payment features for AI agents.
