Coinbase engineering chief Erik Reppel offered a view of how artificial intelligence could reshape the Internet economy, arguing that AI agents can force a shift away from the web’s advertising-based business model.
Speaking on stage at Consensus Miami 2026, Reppel, founder of payments protocol x402 and head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform, said the Internet was originally built around humans interacting with websites, not software interacting with software.
“The Internet was designed for humans to use,” Reppel said. “We now live in a world where both humans and computers operate and computers operate computers.”
According to Reppel, today’s web economy relies heavily on advertising revenue generated when humans visit websites and view ads. But AI agents, he said, bypass that system entirely.
“Agents don’t see those ads. They just ignore them completely,” he said.
That dynamic could push the internet toward new monetization models based on native digital payments, particularly micropayments powered by stablecoins.
“If a human visits a website, show them an ad. If an agent visits a website, charge them a nickel,” Reppel said.
He framed x402, an open payments protocol built around the long-unused HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code, as the infrastructure for that future. The protocol is designed to allow AI agents to make automatic payments for APIs, content, and digital services using cryptorails.
Reppel said the rise of autonomous AI systems, or what he called the “agent economy,” could create a massive new market for internet-native payments. He cited estimates that project the sector could grow between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in four years.
The comments reflect a broader effort within the crypto industry to position stablecoins and blockchain-based payments as fundamental infrastructure for AI-powered commerce.
“Agents are truly the navigator of the future,” he said.
Read more: AI agents are breaking the web economy, but Cloudflare says x402 can help
