Coinbase launches Base MCP to let AI agents interact with onchain apps and payments

Coinbase announced Base MCP on Tuesday, a Model Context Protocol server that connects a Base Account to AI interfaces including Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, and Cursor. Users can ask agents to check balances, view transaction history, send funds, swap tokens, and use supported Base apps.

Base MCP includes skill plugins for Morpho, Moonwell, Aerodrome, Bankr, Avantis, Virtuals, and Uniswap, giving agents access to lending markets, liquidity pools, swaps, perpetuals, and token activity. The launch ties to x402, Coinbase's payment standard for small internet transactions, designed to support microtransactions for research, data, and online services.

Agent-based transactions totaled $73 million over the past year according to a recent Keyrock report, compared with Visa's $14.5 trillion in annual payment volume. Base's design keeps users in the approval loop—agents prepare transactions but the Base Account opens separately so users can review and approve or reject requests before anything moves onchain.