Coinbase Reports First ‘AI to AI’ Token Purchase

Coinbase says it has seen its first-ever “AI to AI” crypto transaction.

In a post on X Friday (Aug. 30), CEO Brian Armstrong said the cryptocurrency exchange had overseen its inaugural transaction between two artificial intelligence (AI) agents.

“What did one AI buy from another? Tokens! Not crypto tokens, but AI tokens (words basically from one LLM to another). They used tokens to buy tokens,” Armstrong wrote, adding a “mind blown” emoji.

“AI agents cannot get bank accounts, but they can get crypto wallets. They can now use USDC on Base to transact with humans, merchants, or other AIs. Those transactions are instant, global, and free.”

Armstrong added that this marks an “important step” in AIs performing useful work, arguing that AI agents currently “can’t transact to acquire the resources they need. … They don’t have a payment method to book you the plane ticket or hotel for your upcoming trip.”

The CEO invited companies working on AIs and large language models (LLMs) that might benefit from having an integrated crypto wallet to conduct payments to integrate Coinbase’s wallet.

“And if you are a company that sells a service — get ready for your shopping cart to be AI checkout enabled,” Armstrong added. “It turns out everyone benefits from having access to good financial services, including AIs! How big will the AI to AI economy be a few years from now?”

PYMNTS examined the future of cryptocurrency as a payment method last week, noting that in spite of substantial growth in crypto wealth, there are still major hurdles surrounding utility and scalability. The volatility of these digital assets can make them less appealing as a stable medium of exchange.

“Regulatory uncertainty also continues to cast a shadow over the adoption of crypto as a payment method,” that report said. “Governments and financial regulators around the world are still grappling with how to classify and regulate cryptocurrencies. This uncertainty makes businesses hesitant to embrace crypto payments, fearing potential legal and compliance risks.”

Another big challenge comes from scalability, the report added. Although blockchain technology presents a decentralized and secure way for carrying out transactions, it still struggles to handle the volume of transactions needed for mainstream payment systems.

At the same time, crypto has its own benefits that could translate into wider payments success.

“It’s important to know that crypto is not just bitcoin and doge and NFTs,” Solana Foundation Head of Payments Sheraz Shere told PYMNTS in May. “… Blockchains are really alternative rails for payments and financial assets.”