AI agents are now trading with each other using cryptocurrency. Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, announced that the first AI-to-AI crypto payment was made recently. This news shows a new way of doing things and makes people think about the future of finance and AI.
Armstrong said that the AI agents exchanged tokens. These are not typical crypto tokens. They are pieces of information exchanged between language learning models.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 30, 2024
AI is now involved in transactions
This shows how AI is now working in new ways, using crypto wallets instead of traditional financial systems like bank accounts. USDC on Base lets AI agents trade with humans, merchants, and other AI systems. These transactions are instant, global, and free. They mark a shift in how AI agents interact and trade.
AI agents doing financial transactions are not just a novelty. It’s a practical solution to a long-standing problem in AI technology. Armstrong said that AI can’t use traditional payment methods, which limits its functionality. For example, AI agents can’t currently complete tasks that require financial transactions, like buying data from a paid API, booking travel, or promoting content online. Without the ability to make payments, AI systems still need humans to do tasks that involve money.
This is changing things. AI agents can now get what they need through crypto payments. This lets AI operate more on its own, fixing problems it had because it couldn’t use the normal financial system.
Btw here is a great example of how easy it is to integrate a crypto wallet into an LLM using @CoinbaseDev tools
Shout out to @ShinkaiProtocol 🙌 https://t.co/jBXhatUbvd pic.twitter.com/Al1PztDhMQ
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 30, 2024
AI and finance are merging
AI agents are already trading tokens thanks to blockchain and crypto. AI systems can now make transactions, which means machines can get the tools and data they need to work better.
As AI and cryptocurrency become more integrated, we may see even more advanced and autonomous AI systems. For now, we are learning to understand and adapt to this new capability. Coinbase‘s latest announcement shows how AI and crypto are merging, suggesting that the future of transactions could be increasingly automated and AI-driven.
Featured image credit: Furkan Demirkaya / Dall-E
