Coinbase Automates Crypto Investing via Upgraded Direct Deposit

Coinbase has introduced a “new and improved” Direct Deposit feature for its U.S. customers.

This feature allows U.S. customers to automatically allocate any portion of their paycheck across cash and crypto, as their money will be automatically distributed based on their choices every time they get paid, the company said in a Monday (May 26) blog post.

While Direct Deposit is being initially launched in the U.S., Coinbase plans to roll out the feature in more regions later this year, according to the post.

“Our new and improved Direct Deposit is the easiest way to turn every paycheck into a consistent investing plan, without any extra steps or hassle,” Coinbase said in the post. “You can allocate any portion of your paycheck to USDC or any crypto asset, with zero trading fees.”

Coinbase reported May 7 that during the first quarter, its subscription and services revenue reached $584 million, representing 44% of the company’s net revenue. PYMNTS reported at the time that this figure reflects Coinbase’s multiyear effort to diversify away from transaction-based income by adding products tied to staking, custody, stablecoins, blockchain infrastructure and institutional services.

In another, separate announcement made Monday, Coinbase-built blockchain Base said in a blog post that users can now connect their Base Account to their AI agent and use prompts to swap, transfer, track their portfolio, and use supported apps and protocols in the Base Ecosystem from the chat interface.

These capabilities are enabled by Base MCP, which can be installed to any AI client or agent that supports MCP, according to the post.

“Base MCP is designed so that nothing happens onchain without your explicit approval,” Base said in the post. “The MCP server never holds or accesses your private keys. When the agent requests a transaction, it constructs the call and stores it as a pending request, which is later retrieved by your Base Account for you to review and sign.”

MCP is an open standard introduced by Anthropic in 2024 to make AI systems more useful in real-world business settings by allowing AI models to securely connect to business tools, database and workflows.

Coinbase opened Base to the public in 2023, saying the blockchain offered users improved scalability, increased transaction speeds, reduced gas fees and consistent security measures.