Coinbase is starting to bring AI deeper into its daily work — not just as a tool, but almost like a new kind of employee.
The company has begun testing AI agents inside its internal systems like Slack and email. The goal is simple: help employees work faster and make better decisions.
CEO Brian Armstrong says this is just the beginning. He believes that in the near future, AI agents could actually outnumber human employees at Coinbase.
Right now, the company has introduced two main agents.
One is called “Fred,” inspired by co-founder Fred Ehrsam. This agent acts like a strategic advisor. It helps with priorities, gives feedback, and thinks more like a senior executive.
The second is “Balaji,” based on former CTO Balaji Srinivasan. This one focuses on creativity. It challenges ideas, asks tough questions, and helps teams think in new ways.
The idea isn’t to replace employees directly, but to support them in their daily work — from planning to problem-solving.
Armstrong also said employees may soon be able to create their own custom AI agents for their teams. That would mean each team could have specialized assistants built for their exact needs.
This move is part of a bigger shift inside Coinbase.
The company wants to become “AI-native,” meaning AI is used across everything — coding, analysis, communication, and operations. Armstrong has even said he wants more than half of the company’s code to eventually be written by AI.
Coinbase is also thinking beyond internal use.
Back in 2025, it introduced the x402 protocol, which allows AI agents to make payments using both crypto and traditional systems. That connects directly to a bigger idea: AI agents not just helping humans, but acting on their own.
Armstrong believes that soon there could be more AI agents making transactions online than humans.
That’s a big shift.
In the future, AI agents could handle things like payments, bookings, and services automatically. And crypto fits naturally into that world because it allows fast, global, and programmable transactions without needing manual steps.
In simple terms, Coinbase isn’t just experimenting with AI — it’s preparing for a future where software agents are active participants in the economy, not just tools behind the scenes.
