Coinbase Business adds AI agent payments, USDT support, and new merchant controls

Coinbase Business, the digital asset payments platform used by more than 5,000 companies, has expanded its checkout stack to handle payments from AI agents, while also adding USDT support and a batch of merchant-facing controls. For PSPs and high-risk merchants, the useful part is not the AI gloss: Coinbase is pushing the same infrastructure toward more payment types, more settlement options, and more control over how transactions are initiated and collected.

1. Coinbase Business now lets businesses accept payments from AI agents through their existing checkout infrastructure. The feature uses x402, an open standard built for machine-to-machine transactions, with payments settling in USDC directly into the merchant’s account.
2. The company said its payment links, checkout, and invoice products have processed more than 100,000 payments for organisations including AI startups, auction houses, law firms, and non-profits. Coinbase Business also said payments settle instantly, fees are lower than credit card fees, and merchants do not face chargebacks.
3. Merchants can withdraw the USDC they receive, or leave it in their account to earn rewards. Coinbase Business has also added USDT support across payment links, checkouts, and invoices, with USDT transactions automatically converted into USDC for settlement so merchants do not have to manage two stablecoins separately.
4. The platform’s payment links can now be reusable, shared through email, text, and QR codes, and controlled by merchants. Businesses can limit how many times a link can be used, or pause and deactivate it when needed.
5. Coinbase Business also added flexible payment amounts, a product catalogue, and checkout data collection. Merchants can set minimum or maximum amounts, let customers choose an amount within limits, reuse product information across payment links, checkouts, and invoices, and collect names, email addresses, and shipping details during checkout for fulfilment.

For merchants that live with variable tickets, donations, tips, or invoice-based flows, the message is straightforward: Coinbase is trying to make stablecoin acceptance look less like a one-off crypto feature and more like ordinary payment plumbing. The AI agent angle is the new label; the operational point is that the platform is widening the set of use cases it can route, settle, and control without making merchants bolt on a separate stack.