Coinbase launches a new initiative to use artificial intelligence to direct crypto payments using a new system built on Payment MCP (Model Context Protocol) to integrate AI agents into crypto payments.
Coinbase, a crypto exchange, developed a service infrastructure that allows AI agents to create wallets, fund accounts, and send stablecoin payments while interacting with online services. It’s like Gemini or ChatGPT starting to take care of your crypto wallets, purchases, investments, and also providing what the other best assets are to invest in.
Erik Reppel, Coinbase’s head of engineering for its developer platform, told Decrypt, “Crypto is uniquely suited to machines. It is the only open, digital-native standard for payment that any program can use.”
Giving machines the ability to carry out transactions autonomously, under a standardized protocol, the exchange’s new tool connects Large language models to crypto wallets, which has been the internet developers’ goal for decades.
Agentic commerce and AI wallets
Coinbase’s Payment MCP is an extension of its x402 open payment standard based on the long-unused “HTTP 402: Payment Required” code. It initially integrates with AI platforms like Anthropic’s Claude (Desktop and Code), Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s Codex, and Cherry Studio, enabling them to extend their services into AI wallets that support crypto payments.
However, reports say, ChatGPT currently seems incompatible with the current transport method used by Coinbase Payments MCP; however, support is planned in a future update, where ChatGPT can handle wallet creation, stablecoin transactions, and more within prompts.
Code-free AI crypto payments
According to Coinbase, Payment MCP is expected to make it easy for users to experiment with AI crypto transactions without writing code, as a built-in interface lets users create and fund wallets using just an email address, instead of developer setup or API keys.
Developers to users
Users can set spending limits, manage funds, and accounts. Running locally ensures speedy work while maintaining privacy. Coinbase calls it a bridge between developer tools and mainstream use, aiming for “agentic commerce”, accessible beyond the coding community to everyday users.
