Coinbase pushes stablecoins as AI payment backbone

Stablecoins are becoming central to AI apps and services, enabling real-time payments and supporting the next generation of software-driven financial infrastructure.

Coinbase is centring stablecoins in AI applications, with developers creating tools for instant payments and microtransactions independent of banks.

Coinbase positions stablecoins at the heart of AI-powered apps, bots, and machines. Over a sweltering August weekend in Brooklyn, around 100 developers from across the globe built tools enabling software to send and receive payments using these digital dollars.

Projects included instant-pay publishing platforms, chatbots charging small fees, and group marketplaces operating independently of traditional banks.

The company is promoting x402, an open-source protocol named after the ‘402 Payment Required’ internet error, designed to let apps and software settle payments instantly using stablecoins.

Developers were encouraged to integrate x402 into their projects, offering real-time microtransactions without relying on PayPal, Visa, or banks. Coinbase hopes the protocol becomes the go-to toolkit for app builders, similar to how Amazon Web Services underpins the internet.

Competition intensifies as Stripe, PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard explore stablecoin infrastructure. Recent US legislation regulating stablecoins provides legal clarity, encouraging developers to innovate confidently.

Despite traditional payment systems and slow-changing consumer habits, Coinbase’s hackathon showcased growing ambitions to develop AI financial infrastructure. Stablecoins are being positioned not just as digital assets, but as functional tools for the next generation of software payments.

Would you like to learn more about AI, tech and digital diplomacy? If so, ask our Diplo chatbot!