Bitcoin forecast: Coinbase CEO sees AI wallet boom – Bitwise names $1.3 million target

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sees AI agents as the next big wave of crypto adoption
• AI systems cannot open bank accounts, but can create and use crypto wallets
• With 25 percent gold market share, Bitcoin could reach $1.3 million, according to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan

Armstrong: AI agents need crypto wallets

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated on Platform X on March 9, 2026 that autonomous AI systems could soon handle more financial transactions than humans. Armstrong pointed out a structural advantage of crypto wallets over traditional bank accounts: AI agents cannot open bank accounts because these require human identity verification. A crypto wallet, on the other hand, can be created and controlled using software without having to rely on banks or intermediaries.

Very soon there are going to be more AI agents than humans making transactions.

They can’t open a bank account, but they can own a crypto wallet. Think about it.

-Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 9, 2026

According to a report from Yahoo Finance on March 11, 2026, Armstrong also pointed to a broader structural change: large financial companies are increasingly experimenting with tokenized funds, stablecoins and blockchain-based settlement systems. According to the report, potential use cases for AI agents include automated purchasing of data, payment for computing power, and processing financial transactions without human intervention.

Bitwise Analysis: How Bitcoin Could Get to $1.3 Million

Bitwise investment chief Matt Hougan outlined why he believes a $1 million Bitcoin price could be achievable in a CIO memo dated March 10, 2026. Hougan sees Bitcoin as an emerging store of value that performs a similar function to gold, but in digital form. According to the memo, at the time of the analysis, the global store of value market was worth nearly $38 trillion, including about $36 trillion for gold and about $1.4 trillion for Bitcoin. This means that Bitcoin has a share of almost four percent in this market.

The key point that many observers miss, Hougan says, is the growth of the overall market. Since 2004, the gold market has expanded from around 2.5 trillion US dollars to almost 40 trillion US dollars, which corresponds to an annual growth rate of around 13 percent. If this pace continues, the global store of value market could be worth around $121 trillion in ten years. With a market share of 17 percent, the Bitcoin price would be $1 million per unit. Hougan also outlined a more optimistic scenario, according to Yahoo Finance: If Bitcoin captures about 25 percent of the global gold market as it continues to grow, the price could be around $1.3 million per unit.

Counterarguments and open risks

Hougan acknowledged in his memo that the continuation of past growth rates is not certain. The last two decades have been marked by a global financial crisis, the introduction of quantitative easing and a long period of low interest rates. These conditions could not be repeated in the future, and a decline in gold prices is just as possible as a failure of Bitcoin to gain further market share.

At the same time, Hougan believed a more optimistic development was just as likely: Growing concerns about national debt could cause the store of value market to grow faster than in the past, and Bitcoin could capture well over 17 percent of this market in ten years. Hougan sees the basis for this in the rapid institutional adoption: Bitcoin ETFs have proven to be the fastest-growing ETF category of all time, and the asset class is now held by institutions such as the Harvard Endowment Fund and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund.

Dominik Maier, editorial team at finanzen.net

Selected leverage products on Coinbase

With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the leverage you want and we will show you suitable open-end products on Coinbase

The leverage must be between 2 and 20

Advertising