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BTC Armstrong refutes the "switch to AI" narrative
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has something to say to those who advise cryptocurrency developers to move to the field of artificial intelligence: This is a zero-sum game of scarcity thinking. In a platform X post on July 26, Armstrong publicly denied the view that artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency are competing technological trends, pointing out that the areas of viewing the two as either stems from flawed thinking patterns.
Armstrong believes that cryptocurrency is a general-purpose technology that should be regarded as infrastructure, similar to electricity or the Internet. It is not competing with the next big trend, but laying the foundation for it. In his view, the powerful trend in artificial intelligence will not only not weaken cryptocurrency, but will instead make it more important.
Armstrong's remarks come as a recent wave of bitcoin mining companies and other cryptocurrency companies accelerate their switch to AI. What he refutes is this "turning" narrative.
Why AI Agents Need Cryptocurrency
The core of Armstrong's argument is based on a practical question. The key to his argument is that there is a fundamental mismatch between the traditional banking system and artificial intelligence. Autonomous AI agents cannot open traditional bank accounts, provide government identification, and cannot wait several working days to complete cross-border wire transfer settlement. As Armstrong puts it: "AI agents will need their own financial infrastructure, and ultimately their daily transaction volume will far exceed all humans combined." Instead, AI systems require real-time digital currencies that support microtransactions, are fully programmable and require no human intervention. This is exactly cryptocurrency.
Structurally, AI agents cannot directly connect to the global banking track and are designed to operate 24/7. This structural mismatch is where cryptocurrencies come into play. stablecoins provide programmable, always-on currency for AI agents. Coinbase is already building the infrastructure for this reality. Armstrong pointed out: "We pioneered this space through the x402 protocol, Base and USDC, and these technologies now support the vast majority of agency payments." The x402 protocol has been running on the Base network for nine months and has processed more than 100 million transactions, with Amazon and Google also adopting it.
According to Armstrong, in the future, AI agents will not only make payments, but will also independently perform a variety of economic activities, such as fund management, investment transactions, transaction operations, financial consulting and capital raising. He believes that cryptocurrency is the only infrastructure that can handle all this.
