Coinbase announced on Tuesday that has built a tool that allows users of its Base blockchain network to plug into services like Claude and Cursor. The new tool, called Base MCP, makes it easier to use AI for conducting crypto transactions such as trading and lending, and comes as part of a broader push by Coinbase and payments giant Stripe to redefine the technical underpinning of online commerce.
The name Base MCP invokes a popular standard known as Model Context Protocol launched by Anthropic in 2024 that makes it easy for agents to communicate with AI models. According to Lincoln Murr, Head of AI Product for Coinbase, MCPs are like a “nice wrapper” atop APIs that facilitate a wide variety of data requests without rigid coding rules.
In an interview with Fortune, Murr explained that adding an MCP tool means Base wallets will become more versatile since users can now empower their agents to conduct a wider range of transactions across different platforms. In a statement, Coinbase provided additional context: “Unlike siloed agentic wallets that only live in a terminal, your Base Account travels with you — trades, history, and portfolio sync whether you’re in-agent or in the Base App.”
