Crypto exchange Coinbase is moving fast to build the infrastructure that allows AI agents to make payments, seeking a lead in the nascent market that could become a battleground for payments firms, the Information reported.

Coinbase and Zerohash, a crypto infrastructure startup, are among the companies vying to issue a new stablecoin for Cloudflare that is set to launch this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal could put the winner’s stablecoin at the center of agent-based traffic because of Cloudflare’s critical role in managing web traffic and cybersecurity.

Cloudflare shares jumped about 8%.

Coinbase is betting on AI payments as its core crypto brokerage business struggles with a broad market downturn. It is also developing AI agents that can be used for executing crypto trades, as well as a marketplace and wallets for AI agents.

“It’s certainly one of our top priorities as a company,” said Shan Aggarwal, chief business officer of Coinbase, about its efforts on agentic payments. The company’s approach to making money from agents differs from its consumer business. “We monetize it mostly by providing the infrastructure that agents use,” Aggarwal said.

Coinbase is betting that people will use AI agents to carry out tasks, which would mean the agents need to pay for things. The company hopes agents use the USDC stablecoins and its Base blockchain, both of which would generate revenue for Coinbase.

AI agents are still a tiny business, especially for individuals, but investors are taking notice. Shares of Visa and Mastercard have fallen on worries that agents using crypto will disrupt their card businesses.

The push into payments also comes as Coinbase’s shares have fallen amid yet another crypto downturn—and a broader push to diversify its business. Last month, trading activity on all crypto exchanges fell to the lowest level since October 2024. Coinbase’s shares have dropped by half from their 2025 peak, and the company lost $667 million last quarter. It has also expanded into equities and prediction markets trading to offset the decline in crypto trading.

Coinbase has been pushing the use of crypto for payments for years, but it has failed to catch on. Crypto firms see the emergence of AI agents supercharged by OpenAI and Anthropic, along with OpenClaw, a personal AI assistant that went viral this year, as a new chance to make inroads into real-world payments.