AI agents want to buy things. The internet tells them to ask a human.
Coinbase’s Kevin Leffew joins ZEROPOD to talk wallets for agents, crypto-native payments, and why AgentKit might be the missing link between AI and autonomy.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro — “Every agent deserves a wallet”
1:52 Opening monologue and guest intro
2:24 What is Zero Rights Media?
3:35 Kevin’s early life and interest in tech
4:55 Founding the Wake Forest “Fintech” Club
6:00 First crypto aha moment
6:53 Microsoft and early blockchain work
8:03 Azure Blockchain Workbench
9:15 File integrity, POA Ethereum, and L2s
10:00 Working at Storj and S3 compatibility
11:13 Decentralized object storage and crypto incentives
13:10 Transitioning to AI — distributed infra and agents
13:35 Working at Replit + Hugging Face hackathon
14:53 What is Replit?
15:49 AI-native coding environments
16:52 From crypto aha to AI aha
17:33 Joining Coinbase & the “every agent needs a wallet” thesis
19:00 AgentKit: letting AI agents take onchain actions
20:35 Agents procuring cloud resources autonomously
21:53 Onchain kit + trust in agentic commerce
25:01 Natural language agents with real-time data
26:16 Can agents create content too?
27:26 Are we past the Turing Test?
28:40 Crypto as global registry + file integrity
30:33 Why AI needs crypto-native payments
31:59 Replacing API keys with microtransactions (X-42)
33:14 Agents accessing GPU, storage, and APIs
34:22 Guardrails, alignment, and the “paperclip” problem
36:02 Agents need cloud + context to perform
37:57 Human adaptation and tech anxiety
39:19 Coinbase AI Hackathon recap
40:42 Jailbreaking agents to improve alignment
41:59 Autonomous agents vs human-extensions
43:33 The future of trading bots and flattened edge
45:14 Meme coins, cults, and AI-led virality
47:32 Determinism vs probabilism: crypto’s role in AI media
49:01 X-42 platform: gasless micropayments over HTTP
50:59 Why AI agents will face paywalls too
52:04 Advice for new AI + crypto builders
53:58 Lightning Round: Food, music, parenting, boxing
55:56 Books: Gödel, Escher, Bach + The Sovereign Individual
58:07 Favorite gadget (not iPhone)
59:08 Travel: China, Colombia, Machu Picchu story
1:01:12 Inspirational figures & risk-taking
1:02:34 Productivity tips + AI tool stack
1:04:27 “Not your models, not your brain”
1:04:58 Black Mirror + AI satire
1:05:18 Alternate career path: Venture
1:06:06 Getting started with AgentKit
1:07:00 “We’re all devs now”
1:07:43 Outro and contact info