Several large Web2 companies are moving to limit what AI agents can do on their platforms, a trend highlighted by @ship_together co-founder @trikcode. The examples cited include @Delta blocking agents from booking flights, JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab keeping agents out of financial accounts, and @amazon working to block AI shopping agents. For crypto projects that depend on agentic commerce, the shift raises a direct question about how much of that activity will be allowed to run on traditional rails.
Amazon and JPMorgan draw lines
The Amazon dispute is the most developed example. A federal judge in San Francisco granted Amazon a preliminary injunction in March blocking Perplexity from using its Comet browser's AI agent to access password-protected sections of the Amazon website to shop on behalf of customers. Amazon argued that Perplexity disguised Comet's AI agent as a regular Google Chrome browser session rather than identifying itself. Perplexity argued the opposite case: it contended that AI agents bypass the advertising Amazon shows to human shoppers, and that protecting ad revenue was the real motivation for the lawsuit.
The legal picture has since shifted. A federal appeals court overturned that injunction in August, ruling that Amazon was unlikely to prevail on the computer-access claims underlying its request. According to eMarketer, the panel reasoned that when a user directs the assistant to complete a task on Amazon.com, it is the user, not Perplexity, accessing Amazon's computers. That ruling leaves the question of platform control over agents unresolved, and Amazon has continued to restrict unauthorised agents.
In banking, JPMorgan has been explicit. CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank will not allow outside AI agents to access customer accounts and operate on their behalf, citing risks to the company and its customers. On the third-quarter earnings call he said, "You don't want rogue agents, and it could be thousands of them." The bank's position is not a blanket ban on data sharing. AI agents can still read some customer data, such as account balances, when Plaid or another connector holds the user's credentials, but they cannot send money or pay bills, and the bank has not set a timeline for safeguards that would allow direct account interaction.
What it means for crypto agent projects
Many crypto AI projects pitch autonomous agents that shop, pay and manage funds. The pushback from incumbents shows that access to existing merchant and banking systems is not guaranteed, and that permission, liability and security are now central to the debate. Reporting suggests the fight is partly about control of customer relationships and revenue: Amazon and eBay cite security and user experience concerns, though the dispute is almost certainly about control, according to Practical Ecommerce.
The restrictions do not directly touch onchain payments, where agents can transact without a bank or retailer granting access. But projects that rely on agents buying real-world goods, flights or financial services through Web2 platforms may face friction, and in some cases need formal agreements with the platforms involved. Whether the courts, regulators or industry standards ultimately favour open agent access is still unsettled.
The claims about Delta and Charles Schwab come from the original commentary and were not independently confirmed in the sources reviewed here.
Sources
CNBC: JPMorgan Chase blocks outside AI agents from directly accessing accounts
GeekWire: Judge blocks Perplexity's AI bot from shopping on Amazon
eMarketer: AI shopping agents may be harder to shut out of ecommerce sites