Coinbase launched a crypto wallet infrastructure designed specifically for AI agents, enabling them to manage liquidity and trade digital assets without human involvement.
Coinbase developers unveiled Agentic Wallets, a crypto wallet infrastructure aimed at removing limitations on autonomous trade execution and asset management for AI agents.
According to the release, the new wallets allow users to predefine rules and permissions that enable an agent to manage liquidity positions and execute trades at any time of day. For example, an AI agent can monitor yields in DeFi protocols, automatically rebalance a portfolio, or adjust strategies when a more favorable rate appears, even if it happens at 3 a.m.
Agentic Wallets are built on the AgentKit framework introduced in November 2024, which allows developers to integrate wallets into AI agents. Payments are processed via the x402 protocol, specifically designed for autonomous AI use cases. According to Coinbase, 50 million transactions have already been processed through x402. The protocol enables agents to independently pay for API access, computing power, premium data feeds, and data storage. Agentic Wallets will also allow AI agents to operate on Base, an Ethereum L2 network, managing positions and executing trading strategies without additional approval, based on predefined parameters.
Interest in autonomous AI agents has grown significantly in recent years. Major technology companies are developing tools that allow such programs to independently pay for services, manage assets, and interact with each other without human intervention. Recently, Lightning Labs, the infrastructure developer behind the Lightning Network, introduced a toolkit enabling AI agents to conduct transactions on Bitcoin’s L2 network under the L402 standard. Agents can run their own Lightning Network node and manage a BTC wallet without direct access to private keys. Meanwhile, Stripe integrated the ability to accept payments from AI agents via its PaymentIntents API.
According to research by Chartis and Fenergo, about 93% of financial institutions plan to implement agentic AI in compliance operations within the next one to two years, expecting AI agents to operate in the regulated financial sector. Learn more about autonomous AI agents and their adoption by FinTech companies in CP Media’s special report.
