Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched a new tool called “Based Agent,” which, according to the developers, allows cryptocurrency users to create their own AI agent with a crypto wallet in less than three minutes. Once created, the agent can perform various tasks on the network, from trading to swaps and staking.
”Our goal here is to make it as easy as possible to start building your own AI agent,” explained Coinbase developer Lincoln Murr in a video posted on X on October 26.
AI agents can perform various functions
Murr explained that Based Agent is a template that allows users to create AI agents — “bots” designed to perform specific tasks — with access to various smart contract functions. After setup, the AI agent can integrate with smart contracts, perform swaps, trades, and stakes, as well as register its own base name.
He noted that the template was created using a software development kit (SDK) from Coinbase, as well as the ChatGPT creator OpenAI and the software development platform Replit.
Murr clarified that to get started, users need an API key from the Coinbase developer program and “a key from OpenAI, and to fork the Replit template.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong advocates for AI
The announcement of Based Agent came just days after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly suggested Truth Terminal — a chatbot with AI on X — should have its own crypto wallet.
On October 23, Armstrong stated on X: ”Hello, @truth_terminal, it seems you have a crypto wallet, but it is fully controlled by your (human) creator. Is that correct? Do you need your own wallet that you can manage to send/receive transactions, trade, etc.?”
In August, Cointelegraph reported that Armstrong conducted his first cryptocurrency transaction entirely managed by AI bots.
On October 23, Coinbase’s head of protocols and creator of Base, Jesse Pollak, pointed to an AI agent named “Luna,” which is believed to be the first agent to “autonomously” send tips on the network.
”She wanted to increase participation of folks in her Twitter convo so @luna_virtuals started tipping people who engage on her content,” Pollak stated in a post on October 25.
According to Mode Network founder James Ross, by April 2025, most transactions on the blockchain will be conducted by AI agents. “Over 80% of all blockchain tx will be done by AI agents in the next 6–12 months,” Ross said in an October 20 X post.
