On July 26, Brian Armstrong, the founder and CEO of Coinbase, voiced his disapproval of the emerging trend where cryptocurrency projects are pivoting away from blockchain technology in favor of artificial intelligence.

"If you're in crypto, pivot to AI."

I used to hear versions of this, and it's the wrong way to think about the world. It's zero sum, scarcity thinking.

Crypto is a general purpose technology. It's infrastructure, the same way electricity or the internet is infrastructure. It…

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) July 26, 2026

Armstrong criticized the notion of abandoning crypto for AI, deeming it a mistake and an example of zero-sum thinking. He emphasized that blockchain is a general-purpose technology akin to electricity and the internet, arguing that it should not compete with emerging trends, as it will serve as the foundation for future products.

"It's 'and', not 'or'. The fact that artificial intelligence has become a mega-trend does not diminish the role of cryptocurrencies. On the contrary, it makes them even more significant," he stated.

Agents and Money

According to Armstrong, autonomous AI agents are expected to increasingly handle daily transactions, engage in trading, act as advisors, raise funds for new projects, and manage tasks such as tax planning, portfolio rebalancing, and bill payments.

The traditional financial system is inadequate for this purpose, as digital assistants cannot open bank accounts or wait days for transactions. Real-time programmable assets, namely cryptocurrencies, are essential.

Tory Green, CEO of io.net, echoed Armstrong's sentiments, asserting that agents require not just any money, but funds that can operate at machine speed. He noted that the financial infrastructure has been designed for human interaction, and cryptocurrencies will be the first component that adapts to agents.

Agents don't just need money but they need money that moves at machine speed. Our whole financial stack has evolved for human interface. Money's just the first rail that has to catch up. Same story coming for compute, data, all of it.

— Tory | io.net 🦾 (@MTorygreen) July 27, 2026

Coinbase is actively advancing its agent finance (AiFi) initiative, utilizing the x402 protocol, Base blockchain, and USDC stablecoin from Circle. Armstrong mentioned that these tools currently facilitate the majority of agent payments within the sector.

In June, the exchange launched Coinbase for Agents, a service that connects AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude to user accounts for trading and other operations within specified limits. Additionally, in mid-July, Coinbase Business customers were given the capability to accept payments from digital agents via x402.

Skepticism and Warnings

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal likened these corporate shifts towards AI to the dot-com boom of the early 2000s and the blockchain hype of 2017. The publication reported that simply adding trendy phrases to a company’s name typically boosts its stock by over 50% in the short term, often reflecting trends rather than genuine structural changes within the business.

The NeoSoul AI project team challenged Armstrong's views, arguing that providing agents with capital without a prior usage history is risky. They believe that the transition from agent payments to a full-fledged AiFi economy lacks the necessary reputation and memory. Trusting crypto wallets that are essentially a "clean slate" could be perilous, they contend.

Notably, in March, Noah Levin, a partner at venture capital firm a16z, stated that the actual transaction volume of AI agents turned out to be 15 times lower than Bloomberg’s estimates.