Coinbase 转向中国 AI 模型,西方实验室面临定价压力测试
阅读原文· the-decoder.comCoinbase CEO Brian Armstrong 已将公司迁移至中国 AI 模型,采用智谱 GLM 5.2 和月之暗面 Kimi 2.7,token 用量攀升但支出减半。91% 的开发者从未触及旧用量上限。初创公司 Lindy 近期转向 DeepSeek V4,Snowflake 也在测试中国模型作为廉价替代品。Coinbase 部署自动路由系统,根据任务、价格和缓存潜力选择模型,缓存命中率从 5% 提升至 60%。开发者被要求保持上下文精简并开启新会话。公司让每位开发者用量透明但不设上限,Armstrong 表示“AI 支出越多,预期影响越大”。这些举措使 AI 总支出减半。同时,OpenAI 的 GPT-5.6-Sol 与 GPT-5.5 定价相同但更省 token,并推出两个廉价变体,加剧与 Anthropic 的价格战。
Coinbase joins the rush to Chinese AI models as Western labs face a pricing stress test
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has moved his company to cheap Chinese AI models. The company is using more tokens than ever but paying half what it used to.
Coinbase now runs on models like GLM 5.2 and Kimi 2.7, according to Armstrong. Developers can still pick whatever model they want, but 91 percent never hit their old usage limits anyway.
The CEO of startup Lindy made the same move to Deepseek v4 recently. Snowflake is testing Chinese models too as cheaper alternatives to OpenAI and Anthropic. That puts real pricing pressure on Western AI labs and adds risk right as some are eyeing IPOs. It's a stress test for the growth numbers they need to hit to justify the money they've raised.
Coinbase also runs an automatic routing system that picks the best model for each request based on task, price, and caching potential. Better caching alone pushed the hit rate from 5 to 60 percent. Developers are told to keep context lean and start fresh sessions for new tasks, a strategy that falls under the broader umbrella of context engineering.

Tokenmaxxing meets accountability
Coinbase also makes each developer's usage visible without capping it. That echoes the tokenmaxxing trend where employees at Amazon and Meta got kudos for burning through tokens with no need to justify the results.
But Coinbase adds one rule that breaks that cycle. "The more you spend on AI, the more impact we expect," Armstrong says. These moves cut Coinbase's AI spending in half even as token usage keeps climbing, according to Armstrong.
More companies are leaning into this kind of optimization. We cover the rise of the token economy in our Frontier Radar #3.
Reportedly, a price war between OpenAI and Anthropic is brewing, too. OpenAI's GPT-5.6-Sol costs the same as GPT-5.5 but is supposed to be more token-efficient than Claude Fable and Mythos. OpenAI is also offering two weaker 5.6 variants at much lower prices.