Coinbase on Thursday launched a new tool that gives AI agents the ability to trade and transact directly on users’ behalf, representing a broader bet that AI agents will become a primary interface for people’s financial activity.

Coinbase for Agents will initially allow agents like ChatGPT or Claude to execute crypto trades using natural language instructions. For example, customers can prompt their agent to rebalance portfolios, identify trading opportunities, execute strategies and manage positions over time. It will eventually expand these capabilities to stocks and predictions.

Additionally, using Coinbase’s machine-to-machine payments protocol, called x402, agents can pay directly for digital services like paywalled research, data…