ChainCatcher reported that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong disclosed three platform-level metrics on Thursday, covering the company’s stablecoin payment activity, USDC holdings, and the x402 agent payment protocol. According to Armstrong, Coinbase’s annual stablecoin flow is close to $1 trillion, the platform holds about $20 billion in USDC, and x402 processed more than 160 million autonomous transactions over the past year.
USDC holdings and stablecoin flow
According to SEC filings, Coinbase’s average USDC holdings in the first quarter reached $19 billion, setting a record high. More than 25% of all circulating USDC is located within the Coinbase ecosystem. Total USDC circulation currently stands at $75 billion, placing Coinbase’s ecosystem as a significant holder within the overall USDC supply structure. Armstrong’s statement that the platform holds about $20 billion in USDC is broadly aligned with the first-quarter average disclosed in the SEC filing.
The nearly $1 trillion annual stablecoin flow disclosed by Coinbase refers to transfers processed through Coinbase’s payment infrastructure. For comparison, Visa processed about $14.5 trillion in fiscal year 2025. The figures place Coinbase’s stablecoin payment infrastructure and a major traditional payment network in the same annual processing framework, using the data points cited in the disclosure.
x402 activity and Base transaction distribution
The x402 protocol is named after the HTTP 402 error code. It allows AI agents to make on-chain payments directly in USDC during network requests. Armstrong said x402 handled more than 160 million autonomous transactions over the past year. Transactions above $1 accounted for 95% of x402 transfer volume, showing that transfers larger than $1 made up the dominant share of the protocol’s reported activity.
Base has processed $19 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume this year, and more than 90% of x402 transaction volume runs on Base. The founding members of the x402 Foundation include Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and AWS. Taken together, the three sets of figures disclosed by Coinbase outline the company’s latest public data points across stablecoin payment infrastructure, USDC holdings, and the x402 agent payment protocol.