Crypto's search for new users lead to AI agents
The crypto industry is pivoting toward AI agents as a new growth strategy, with major companies like Circle, Kraken, and Coinbase building infrastructure to enable autonomous AI systems to use crypto wallets, stablecoins, and blockchain networks. This shift represents a fundamental repositioning of cryptocurrency from a speculative asset class and payment alternative into a foundational layer for the emerging agentic economy.
Summary
For years, the cryptocurrency industry has struggled to expand beyond traders and speculators to mainstream users. Facing this persistent challenge, major crypto companies have identified artificial intelligence agents as a promising new user segment. Several industry leaders are actively developing infrastructure to enable AI agents to interact directly with crypto ecosystems. Circle has launched Agent Stack, a platform designed specifically to support the agentic economy. Kraken has redesigned its trading application around agentic capabilities. Coinbase has created tools allowing AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude to execute cryptocurrency trades autonomously. Industry commentators view this transition as analogous to the shift from desktop to mobile computing in the 2010s. The comparison suggests that AI agents will become the primary economic actors on the internet, just as mobile devices became the dominant computing platform. This represents a significant strategic reorientation for the crypto industry, which has historically marketed itself primarily as an alternative to traditional financial systems or as a means to enable faster and cheaper payments.
About this episode
For years, the crypto industry’s biggest challenge has been finding users beyond traders. Now, some of its largest companies think they’ve found them in AI agents. CNBC's Tanaya Macheel explains.
Key Insights
- Major crypto companies are actively building infrastructure to convert AI agents into direct users of crypto wallets, stablecoins, and blockchain payment networks rather than targeting human users
- Industry experts frame the emergence of AI agents as analogous to the mobile computing transition of the 2010s, where agents will become the primary economic actors on the internet in the late 2020s
- This strategic pivot marks a fundamental shift from crypto's historical positioning as either an alternative to traditional money or a faster payment method toward positioning it as infrastructure for an agentic economy
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] For years, the crypto industry's biggest challenge has been finding users beyond traders. Now, some of its biggest companies have a new target: [music] AI agents. Crypto as an industry is still largely driven by speculation, but companies are betting AI can become a second growth engine by turning AI agents into users of its crypto wallets, stablecoins, and blockchain payment networks. And several major players are already moving in that direction. Over the past 3 months, Circle has launched Agent Stack, which is infrastructure for the agentic economy. Kraken has rebuilt its app around agentic trading, and [0:32] Coinbase has rolled out tools that let AI agents like ChatGPT [music] or Claude execute crypto trades. >> Agents are…
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