Coinbase has partnered with Perplexity AI to provide real-time cryptocurrency data powered by AI to traders, as announced by Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong on X.
In a post on Thursday, Armstrong stated that the collaboration will be integrated in two phases. In the first phase, Perplexity will focus on Coinbase's market data, including the COIN50 index, with the information available in Perplexity's new Comet browser.
"I hope that the enhanced cryptocurrency functionality will be a catalyst for AI to achieve another 10x unlock," he said. "Personally, I am very excited to see cryptocurrency wallets fully integrated into LLMs someday. It will be a significant step towards a permissionless digital economy."
The announcement is part of a broader strategy to connect artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, a future that Coinbase considers inevitable. In 2024, Coinbase implemented machine learning tools to predict traffic spikes and scale resources, aiming to avoid outages and improve efficiency.
"We believe that cryptocurrencies will be the financial system for AI," said Mark Troianovski, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Coinbase, to Decrypt. "As AI agents become more capable, they will need secure, transparent, and programmable ways to conduct transactions, and blockchain technology is the best option."
Troianovski stated that Coinbase is focused on making this future possible by facilitating and making on-chain payments accessible for both humans and agents, developing "native AI ways to operate and helping people access cryptocurrency information in LLMs."
The role of AI in on-chain finance will expand rapidly, he added, but not without challenges. While AI will make on-chain data more accessible, Troianovski warned that it must be implemented with security measures, something that the transparency and programmability of cryptocurrencies can help ensure.
The announcement reflects a broader trend towards the increasing role of AI in the cryptocurrency market. Currently, the market capitalization of AI-related tokens is approximately $26.5 billion, according to CoinGecko.
While no launch date for Phase 2 was announced, Armstrong stated on X that it will arrive "soon." The next phase, he asserted, will integrate Coinbase's market data directly into Perplexity's responses, allowing users to monitor market activity, explore trading ideas, and access specific token information through natural language queries.
Armstrong, a long-time advocate of artificial intelligence, has previously argued that AI, like past technological innovations, should remain unregulated to spur growth.
"This new access to reliable real-time data through increasingly intelligent LLMs will help many more people make smart and informed decisions about cryptocurrencies," said Armstrong. "It's a big leap!"