The controls, announced by the cryptocurrency exchange Wednesday (Nov. 11), are designed to give users more authority over how their artificial intelligence (AI) agents trade.
“Frontier technology should come with strong safeguards that help protect users and their assets,” the company said. “And that’s why we’re rolling out Agent Controls in Coinbase for Agents, to help you stay secure and in control.”
The new controls include the ability to set a limit for each trade, caps on the amount an agent can trade over 24 hours, and introduces “auto-stop,” which lets users establish a percentage-loss threshold for their portfolios.
“If your portfolio falls below it, your agent stops placing trades until you turn trading back on in the Coinbase app,” the company said.
Eventually, the controls will also let users decide which product categories their AI agents can trade between, such as crypto, equities and derivatives, while disabling others.
Coinbase introduced Coinbase for Agents in June, saying it was created in response to consumers’ changing interactions with the internet.
“People are increasingly moving through the world via agents rather than apps—and businesses are rapidly rebuilding their products to be agent-first in turn,” the company said at the time. As that ecosystem grows, Coinbase for Agents is positioned to be your trading and spending account at the center of it.”
During its May earnings call, Coinbase management told investors that they believe AI agents will eventually be major economic participants, autonomously carrying out payments, transactions and commerce activity online.
“We’re leading on the next frontier with over 90% of on-chain agentic stablecoin transaction volume happening on Base,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during the call. “We believe there will soon be billions of agents transacting and they need rails that can keep up, and Coinbase is at the center of the agent economy.”
Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that there’s a limit to what consumers will allow an AI agent to do.
For example, while 63% would permit an AI agent to compare credit offers, just 49% would let one fill out and submit an application. That’s according to “Giving AI Credit: How Far Consumers Will Let Agents Go,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Thredd collaboration.
