Jesse Pollak of Coinbase said the rapid rise of AI agents is reshaping the way online payments are made, and cryptocurrency infrastructure is gradually becoming a natural fit.
“What was almost impossible nine months ago is now entirely achievable,” Pollack said in an interview with CoinDesk, noting that the capabilities of autonomous AI systems are advancing rapidly. As these agents evolve, a growing need has become clear: they require native trading capabilities.
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“Agents are defined by software and operating systems; they want funds in software form,” Pollack said, who is set to... speak at the 2026 Miami Consensus Conference next month.
This shift is driving interest in so-called "agent payments," where AI systems can autonomously pay for services such as data access, computing, or travel bookings.
Pollak said he hopes x402 will become a key part of the stack.An open-source payment protocol that Coinbase has been developing with partners such as Microsoft, Google, and Mastercard to enable on-demand API payments without subscriptions or traditional billing systems.
Pollak said that blockchain-based payment methods do not rely on traditional payment systems; agents can "transfer funds instantly worldwide with just one API call or smart contract invocation, and essentially for free."
Early progress has already shown results. According to Pollak, X402’s payment transaction volume has reached approximately $48 million to date, with about 95% of transactions occurring on Base—the Ethereum Layer 2 network founded by Pollak and incubated by Coinbase. The ecosystem is also rapidly expanding, integrating AI providers, data platforms, and travel services that agents can use directly.
Polak said the long-term vision is to create an open marketplace of services that brokers can access automatically through programs, without payment or human intervention. “We want brokers to have the freedom to innovate,” he described a system in which software can seamlessly discover, purchase, and use digital services in real time.
Polak said that while fully autonomous "human-free" enterprises are emerging, the more immediate shift will come from people using AI to enhance their own capabilities.
He said, "Top talent is now using intelligent agents to enhance their competitiveness," and described workflows driven by multiple parallel AI systems.
For cryptocurrencies, the broader challenge remains adoption. Pollack believes the solution is not stronger marketing, but reducing its obscurity.
He said, "Selling cryptocurrency becomes much easier when you don't have to explain what it is to people—they just experience it for themselves."
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