Jesse Pollak of Coinbase Foresees AI Agents Revolutionizing Crypto Payments

The swift advancement of AI agents is transforming online transactions, with cryptocurrency infrastructure emerging as a natural fit, according to Jesse Pollak of Coinbase. In an interview with CoinDesk, Pollak noted that what was nearly impossible just nine months ago is now feasible due to the rapid evolution of autonomous AI systems. As these agents advance, the need for native transaction methods becomes clear. "Agents, defined in software and operating on software, require money in a software format," Pollak explained. He will be discussing this topic further at Consensus Miami 2026. This shift is driving interest in "agentic payments," where AI systems can autonomously pay for services such as data access, computing, or travel bookings. Pollak expressed hope that the x402 open-source payments protocol, developed by Coinbase in collaboration with companies like Microsoft, Google, and Mastercard, will play a crucial role in this stack. The protocol enables on-demand API payments without subscriptions or traditional billing systems. By leveraging blockchain-based payments, agents can make a single API or smart contract call to transfer money globally, almost instantly and at a negligible cost, Pollak said. Early adoption is already evident, with approximately $48 million in payment volume having flowed through X402 to date, mostly on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network founded by Pollak and incubated by Coinbase. The ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with integrations spanning AI providers, data platforms, and travel services that agents can access directly. The long-term vision is to create an open marketplace where agents can programmatically access services without encountering paywalls or requiring human intervention. "The goal is for agents to operate freely," Pollak described, envisioning a system where software can seamlessly discover, purchase, and utilize digital services in real-time. While fully autonomous "zero-human" businesses are emerging, Pollak believes the more significant near-term impact will come from people enhancing their capabilities with AI. "Top performers are now leveraging agents to become even more exceptional," he said, describing workflows powered by multiple parallel AI systems. For cryptocurrency, the broader challenge remains adoption. Pollak argued that the solution lies not in better marketing but in making crypto invisible to the user. "It will be much easier to promote crypto when people don't need to be told about it; they just experience it," he said.