The next crypto users might not be human—what is "AiFi," the initiative Coinbase is seriously pursuing?

Lately, as I’ve been following announcements from Coinbase, I’ve increasingly found myself wondering: does the mass adoption of crypto-assets actually require human users?

Until now, the focus has been on increasing the number of people who open exchange accounts, use wallets, and make payments with crypto-assets; whenever we discussed practical application, the primary actors were almost always humans. However, the concept of "Agentic Finance" (AiFi)—an area Coinbase is currently prioritizing—shifts that fundamental premise.

On August 18, AWS launched Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments. This system enables AI agents to independently discover, access, and pay for services such as paid APIs, MCPs, and content, with Coinbase’s wallet and x402 technology integrated to handle the payment processing.