Jesse Pollak of Coinbase Foresees AI Agents Revolutionizing Crypto Payments

The swift growth of AI agents is transforming online payment methods, with crypto 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 advancement of autonomous AI systems. As these agents evolve, the need for native transaction methods becomes apparent. 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 his hope that the x402 open-source payments protocol, developed by Coinbase and collaborators 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. Instead of relying on legacy systems, blockchain-based payments allow agents to make a single API or smart contract call to transfer money globally, almost instantly and at a negligible cost, according to Pollak. Early adoption is already visible, with approximately $48 million in payment volume having flowed through X402, mostly on Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network founded by Pollak and incubated by Coinbase. The ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with integrations across AI providers, data platforms, and travel services that agents can access directly. Pollak's long-term vision is to create an open marketplace where agents can programmatically access services 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 use digital services in real-time. While fully autonomous 'zero-human' businesses are emerging, Pollak believes the bigger near-term shift will come from people 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 crypto, the broader challenge remains adoption, with Pollak arguing that the solution lies not in better marketing but in making the technology invisible.