Jesse Pollak of Coinbase Foresees AI Agents as the Next Big Leap for Crypto Payments

The swift emergence of AI agents is revolutionizing online payment systems, with crypto infrastructure poised to play a pivotal role, according to Jesse Pollak of Coinbase. In an interview with CoinDesk, Pollak noted that what was nearly impossible just nine months ago has become entirely feasible due to the rapid advancement of autonomous AI systems. As these agents continue to evolve, the need for native transaction methods has become apparent. This shift is driving interest in 'agentic payments,' where AI systems can autonomously pay for services such as data access, computing power, or travel bookings. Pollak expressed his hope that the x402 open-source payments protocol, developed by Coinbase in collaboration with Microsoft, Google, and Mastercard, will be a crucial component of this stack. The protocol enables on-demand API payments without the need for subscriptions or traditional billing systems. By leveraging blockchain-based payments, agents can make a single API or smart contract call to transfer funds globally, virtually instantly, and almost free of charge, Pollak explained. Early signs of traction are already evident, with approximately $48 million in payment volume having flowed through X402 to date, about 95% of which occurred 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, according to Pollak, is to create an open marketplace of services that agents can access programmatically without encountering paywalls or requiring human intervention. 'You want agents to be able to run wild,' he said, describing a system where software can seamlessly discover, purchase, and utilize digital services in real-time. While fully autonomous 'zero-human' businesses are beginning to emerge, Pollak believes the more significant near-term shift will come from individuals augmenting themselves with AI. 'The top performers are now using agents to become even more top performers,' he said, describing workflows powered by multiple parallel AI systems. For the crypto industry, the broader challenge remains adoption. Pollak argued that the solution lies not in better marketing but in making the technology invisible.