Written by: Techub News整理

Introduction

Recently, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, along with Chief Marketing Officer Kat, Chief Legal Officer Molly, and Base Head Jesse, attended the "Sourcery" interview hosted by Molly O'Shea, where they released Coinbase's semi-annual "system update." In this information-intensive dialogue, Armstrong not only reviewed the company’s key progress over the past six months but also clearly outlined Coinbase's grand vision to transcend traditional cryptocurrency exchanges: to achieve exponential efficiency improvements using artificial intelligence (AI) and to bring all asset classes onto the blockchain, constructing a globally connected, capital-efficient, and seamless unified financial account. This update comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market is experiencing cyclical fluctuations, showcasing Coinbase’s long-termism strategy as the industry leader, deeply cultivating infrastructure during the bear market to prepare for the next wave of growth.

Summary

• AI-driven efficiency revolution: Coinbase uses AI to double code output, improve quality, and has launched Coinbase MCP and AI investment advisors that enable AI entities to safely trade on behalf of users.
• Building the "Universal Exchange": The goal is to bring all asset classes, including stocks, commodities, and prediction markets, onto the blockchain for high liquidity and efficiency in global trading within a single account.
• Aiming at 4 billion "non-brokerage" population: Intended to provide financial services to the global population that cannot access high-quality investments like U.S. stocks, becoming a key force for financial democratization.
• Bets on the explosion of the "agent economy": Believes that the number of AI agents will soon surpass human workers, and has built a full-stack financial infrastructure that includes USDC, Base blockchain, and X402 payment protocol for this purpose.
• Cost-controlled AI practices: By routing most AI queries to cheaper open-source models and other strategies, the company effectively controlled the cost curve while experiencing exponential growth in token usage.

How AI Reshapes Coinbase: From Internal Efficiency to External Products

Brian Armstrong made it clear that AI is the core driving force behind the unprecedented acceleration of Coinbase's execution speed. He revealed that the company's code output has doubled year-on-year, with higher quality and fewer bugs. This is not just an optimization of the tech department; it’s an efficiency revolution across the entire company.

More importantly, AI is evolving from an internal tool to a core product for users. Coinbase released Coinbase MCP, a protocol that allows any AI entity to securely connect to a user’s Coinbase account. Users can communicate with the AI in natural language, allowing it to execute trades within the safety parameters set by the user. This transforms the previously advisory "financial AI assistant" into a "financial AI agent" that can take direct action.

Furthermore, Coinbase has directly integrated AI technology into its main application, launching Coinbase Advisor. Armstrong emphasized that this AI entity itself is a registered investment advisor with the SEC, marking an innovation in the industry. This indicates Coinbase's determination to explore AI financial services within a compliant framework.

Armstrong’s views on AI costs are also insightful. He shared Coinbase's practices in managing its AI budget: by routing a large number of queries to open-source models that are 99% cheaper than frontier models, combined with caching and setting reasonable defaults, the company has successfully flattened the cost curve while token usage continues to grow exponentially. He predicts that in the future, 80% of AI workloads will be borne by these high-cost-performance models, with only the top 20% requiring the most advanced models. This pragmatic strategy not only satisfies the CFO but also suggests that the pace of price reduction for AI services may outstrip Moore’s Law.

“Bringing Everything On-Chain” and Providing Investment Services to 4 Billion People

Armstrong put forward an ambitious vision: to bring every asset class onto the chain. He attempted to change the public’s outdated perception of Coinbase as merely a "Bitcoin trading platform," emphasizing that users can now trade everything on Coinbase—cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, pre-IPO products, perpetual contracts, prediction markets, etc., all within a unified account, enjoying high liquidity and capital efficiency.

Behind this vision is a broader goal: to serve approximately 4 billion "non-brokerage" people globally. Armstrong distinguished between "unbanked" and "non-brokerage" populations. The latter group may have bank accounts but cannot access high-quality investment targets like U.S. stocks; their wealth is often held in cash (facing depreciation) or directed only towards low-quality assets. Coinbase hopes to facilitate easy ownership of stocks like Nvidia or Coinbase for these 4 billion people through its on-chain platform, which he believes is a significant force for democratization and a good business.

To support global trading, Coinbase is uniting its global liquidity pool. Armstrong pointed out that up to 80% of cryptocurrency derivatives and perpetual contract trades have flowed into overseas markets. With recent approvals in the U.S., Coinbase can legally integrate U.S. and international liquidity, bringing a substantial amount of trading activity "back onshore." He confidently stated that "this is something only Coinbase can do."

A specific milestone in this release is the launch of tokenized stocks. Chief Legal Officer Molly proudly emphasized during the interview that Coinbase chose a "difficult but correct" compliance path, issuing and regulating these products as "true securities" rather than taking shortcuts, reflecting the company's "customer-first" and "no-frills" attitude.

The Agent Economy: When AI Needs Its Own Bank Account

When asked about the "boldest prediction," Armstrong pointed unequivocally to the agent economy. He predicts that soon, the number of AI entities working in the economy will exceed that of humans, and humanoid robots will join in the future. He views AI as "programmable intelligence and labor,” while crypto assets are "programmable currency and markets,” and the combination of the two will create an entirely new agent economy.

He posed a critical question: how will AI entities hire and pay each other? They will need to conduct frequent, small, low-touch microtransactions (such as bypassing captcha), needing to "easily cross payment walls." Existing financial infrastructure fails to meet these demands. To this end, Coinbase has built a full-stack solution: USDC (a trusted stablecoin), Base blockchain, powerful payment APIs along with self-custody wallets, and an open standard X402 created specifically for agent payments. Armstrong claims that the current combination of Base, USDC, and X402 is a leader in the agent commerce space.

Regarding the scale of AI entities used within the company, Armstrong provided an interesting estimate: if calculated in "full-time equivalents," there are currently thousands of AI entities at work in Coinbase. He anticipates that by the end of this year, the number of full-time AI entities working for the company will surpass human employees. However, he does not believe this will take away jobs; rather, he believes AI will take over "tasks and drudgery," allowing human employees to accomplish more valuable work.

Weathering Cycles: Pressure Creates "Diamond Hands"

Faced with the inherent cyclical fluctuations of the cryptocurrency market, Coinbase's management displayed a near “enjoyment” of calmness. Armstrong reflected on his experience starting in 2012 when Bitcoin was only $5-10, stating he has experienced four cycles. He pointed out that even during so-called "winters," sectors such as stablecoin payments, prediction markets, derivatives, and agent infrastructure continue to grow wildly.

Chief Marketing Officer Kat quoted an insightful summary: "Pressure creates diamond hands." She explained that this cyclicality has deeply embedded itself in the company culture, with executives even admitting they prefer to operate in a bear market as it allows the team to focus more, reduce distractions, and accomplish more substantial work to prepare thoroughly for the next bull market. From a marketing perspective, constraints can actually stimulate cooler creativity.

Base Head Jesse added that building a decentralized blockchain (i.e., Base) within a large publicly traded company like Coinbase is a massive challenge but also the greatest opportunity. Base has not only the trust, expertise, and distribution channels from Coinbase but has also nurtured a vibrant decentralized ecosystem. He predicts that Base will become the largest blockchain globally in the next five years, driven by the explosive synergy of trading, payments, and agents, alongside the initial liquidity brought in by Coinbase.

Brand and Future: Rebuilding Finance for the Internet Era

In terms of brand building, Kat shared her insights. She believes the next generation of users has grown up in the internet era and is reluctant to use outdated and rigid financial institutions of previous generations. Coinbase's mission is to create "finance born for the internet." Thus, Coinbase's marketing dares to take risks, deeply engaging with cultural contexts, even exposing and touching upon the "tangible dissatisfaction" people have with the existing financial system, resonating strongly with the younger generation. From "Subway Surfers" memes to recent brand advertising campaigns themed on "NPCs," this approach is reflected.

Looking to the future, Armstrong is most excited about three things: the tokenized stocks as a strong democratizing force, unifying global liquidity to bring derivative trading back to compliant markets, and the financial service infrastructure for the agent economy being built. All three points point towards the same goal: using cryptocurrency and AI technology to build a more open, efficient, and inclusive global financial system. For Coinbase, this is far beyond trading Bitcoin; it's a journey to reshape finance itself.

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