Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase launches $15K AI accelerator grant program

Coinbase engineering lead Yuga Cohler posted a demo of the “AI Wallets” feature to X on Aug. 12.

Major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has recently launched an artificial intelligence accelerator grant program. The program will see the exchange award five projects focused on combining AI with crypto wallets with a grant of $3,000 each.

According to Coinbase CEO Brad Armstrong, large language models (LLMs) — the technology behind AI systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude — could accomplish finance-related tasks if they were properly equipped.

“Imagine if LLMs like ChatGPT or Codex could perform finance-related tasks. With the right prompts, they could generate code for trading strategies, analyze financial statements or even write financial news articles,” he said in a March 2023 blog post.

Coinbase engineering lead showcases ‘AI Wallets’ feature

A recent demo from Coinbase engineering lead Yuga Cohler on Aug. 12 unveiled a feature dubbed “AI Wallets” on X. The demo showcased a scenario where an organization is paying individuals to participate in human-feedback sessions for training an image recognition model.

The system prompts Cohler to select which image he “thinks is best” from three different photographs. After making his selection and completing his task to help train the AI, the model sends his payment directly to his cryptocurrency wallet.

This scenario brings to mind a service like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, where humans are paid for completing simple tasks online. At the same time, there are a vast number of conceivable use-cases for giving an AI system the ability to conduct and receive wallet transactions.

Coinbase Developer Platform announces $15K accelerator grant for AI integration with crypto wallets

The Coinbase Developer Platform announced its $15,000 accelerator grant program on Aug. 11 for the purpose of exploring those use cases. According to language on the Coinbase website, the company is looking for any useful “bot” built using an LLM and connectivity to Coinbase’s MPC wallets.

“Imagine building a bot powered by an LLM that can generate code for trading strategies, analyze financial statements or even write financial news articles. Now imagine if that bot could perform any of those actions and have the output be sent directly to your crypto wallet,” the announcement reads.

Per Coinbase, the grant is designed to test the waters of AI-induced economic applications, adding:

“We’re excited to see what the community can build with AI Wallets and look forward to announcing the grant recipients in the coming weeks. Those interested in applying for the grants have until Sep. 5 to submit their applications.”