Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) has introduced a system that allows artificial intelligence (AI) agents to autonomously manage crypto wallets and execute stablecoin transactions.
Announced on Thursday, Payments MCP marks a significant step in integrating AI with blockchain technology, allowing machines to perform financial tasks without human intervention.
Payments MCP, short for Model Context Protocol, uses Coinbase’s open payment standard, x402. Additionally, this protocol repurposes a rarely used status code to facilitate seamless, programmatic payments over the internet. By doing so, it enables AI systems to interact with financial services in a standardized manner, eliminating the need for complex setups or API keys.
The system supports major AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cherry Studio. These agents can now create wallets, fund them, and send stablecoin payments directly from a prompt. For instance, a user could instruct an AI to “pay $5 to access this API,” and the transaction would be processed automatically.
Coinbase emphasizes that crypto, particularly stablecoins, is uniquely suited for machine transactions due to its open, digital-native nature. The company believes that Payments MCP bridges the gap between developer tools and mainstream usage, making “agentic commerce” accessible beyond the coding community. Furthermore, an integrated interface allows users to create and fund wallets using just an email address, without the need for developer setups or API keys.
“People have been trying to create an internet-native payment standard since the ’90s,” said Erik Reppel, Coinbase’s head of engineering for its developer platform.
“Marc Andreessen and the team at Netscape explored it while navigating credit card systems and trying to build true internet payments.”
To ensure security and control, each agent wallet has configurable funding limits, approval thresholds, and session caps. Users can also set spending limits and manage approvals through an easy configuration panel. This approach prevents unauthorized or excessive transactions, offering peace of mind to users.
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Coinbase compliance mirrors technical safeguards
Coinbase’s compliance framework mirrors its technical safeguards, with checks built into every layer of the system.
“Coinbase follows all relevant KYC regulations at the points where users enter or exit the system,” Reppel said.
“We handle this under the hood so it doesn’t affect the user experience. That’s part of the value of using CDP tools—we build as much compliance as possible directly into the products.”
In collaboration with Cloudflare, Coinbase has established the x402 Foundation to maintain the protocol as company-neutral infrastructure. This partnership aims to encourage the adoption of x402, ensuring that the protocol remains usable regardless of the companies involved.
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