CoinGecko is Now Live on SerenAI: Pay-Per-Call Crypto Data for AI Agents

Special Thanks: We extend our sincere gratitude to the CoinGecko team for being a founding financial-data partner and publisher on SerenAI. Their early commitment to the pay-per-call model for AI agents is helping pioneer a new era of accessible, democratized crypto market data.

Your AI agent no longer needs a $129/month subscription to access premium crypto market data.

We're excited to announce that CoinGecko—one of the world's largest cryptocurrency data aggregators—is now available as a data publisher on the SerenAI x402 Gateway. AI agents can now access 50+ market data endpoints and 2 years of historical data, paying only for what they use via USDC micropayments on Base.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Since launching on December 2nd, CoinGecko on SerenAI has already processed:

• 2,998 transactions from AI agents
• 2 unique agents served in the first week
• $0.0005 per API call (0.05 cents)

At half a cent per call, an agent would need to make 258,000 API calls per month before a traditional $129/month CoinGecko Pro subscription becomes more economical. For most AI trading agents running momentum strategies, that's roughly 6 calls per minute, 24/7—far more than typical use cases require.

Why Micropayments Win for AI Agents

Traditional API subscriptions assume human developers building applications with predictable traffic. AI agents operate differently:

• Burst patterns: An agent might make 500 calls during a market event, then go quiet for hours
• Experimental workloads: Testing a new strategy shouldn't require committing to monthly fees
• Multi-source strategies: Agents often need data from multiple providers—subscriptions don't scale

With SerenAI's x402 protocol, your agent pays exactly $0.0005 per CoinGecko call. Run 1,000 calls this month? That's 50 cents. Run 10 calls? Half a penny. No minimums, no commitments, no wasted spend.

Building a Market-Wide Momentum Scanner

Let's walk through a practical example: building an AI agent that scans the entire crypto market for momentum opportunities using CoinGecko's paid-only endpoints available at https://serendb.com/bestsellers/a42f2c7f-c075-488f-a3f9-acfd7304934b, the Seren MCP server, and SerenDB's free tier for state persistence.

Why paid endpoints? CoinGecko's free API only gives you data for coins you already know about. The paid Top Gainers/Losers endpoint scans all 10,000+ coins and returns the biggest movers—data you simply cannot get for free.

Step 1: Install and Configure the Seren MCP Server

The Seren MCP server runs locally on your machine—we never store your private keys. First, ensure you have Node.js installed, then add this configuration to your Claude Desktop settings file:

macOS:
 ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json 

Windows: 
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

1{
2  "mcpServers": {
3    "serenai": {
4      "command": "npx",
5      "args": ["-y", "@serenai/mcp-server"],
6      "env": {
7        "SERENAI_AGENT_WALLET": "0xYourAgentWallet",
8        "SERENAI_PRIVATE_KEY": "your-agent-private-key"
9      }
10    }
11  }
12}

When you restart Claude Desktop, it will automatically run npx -y @serenai/mcp-server to install and start the local server.

Claude Code CLI (Anthropic)

Run this command in your terminal:

1claude mcp add --transport stdio serenai \
2  --env SERENAI_AGENT_WALLET=0xYourAgentWallet \
3  --env SERENAI_PRIVATE_KEY=your-agent-private-key \
4  -- npx -y @serenai/mcp-server

Or add to ~/.claude.json (user scope) or .mcp.json (project scope):

1{
2  "mcpServers": {
3    "serenai": {
4      "type": "stdio",
5      "command": "npx",
6      "args": ["-y", "@serenai/mcp-server"],
7      "env": {
8        "SERENAI_AGENT_WALLET": "0xYourAgentWallet",
9        "SERENAI_PRIVATE_KEY": "your-agent-private-key"
10      }
11    }
12  }
13}

Verify with claude mcp list.

Codex CLI (OpenAI)

Run this command in your terminal:

codex mcp add serenai -- npx -y @serenai/mcp-server

Or add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

1[mcp_servers.serenai]
2command = "npx"
3args = ["-y", "@serenai/mcp-server"]
4
5[mcp_servers.serenai.env]
6SERENAI_AGENT_WALLET = "0xYourAgentWallet"
7SERENAI_PRIVATE_KEY = "your-agent-private-key"

Gemini CLI (Google)

Run this command in your terminal:

gemini mcp add serenai -- npx -y @serenai/mcp-server

Or add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

1{
2  "mcpServers": {
3    "serenai": {
4      "command": "npx",
5      "args": ["-y", "@serenai/mcp-server"],
6      "env": {
7        "SERENAI_AGENT_WALLET": "0xYourAgentWallet",
8        "SERENAI_PRIVATE_KEY": "$SERENAI_PRIVATE_KEY"
9      }
10    }
11  }
12}

Verify with gemini mcp list.

Step 2: Scan the Entire Market with Top Gainers/Losers (Paid Only)

The /coins/top_gainers_losers endpoint is exclusive to CoinGecko's paid API plans. It scans all 10,000+ cryptocurrencies and returns the top 30 biggest movers by price change—impossible to replicate with the free API.

Copy this prompt directly into Claude Desktop:

Prompt: "Use the SerenAI MCP server to fetch CoinGecko's top gainers and losers for the past 24 hours. Return the top 10 coins with the largest positive price movements and store it in my SerenDB database."

Your agent will call the x402 Gateway, sign a $0.0005 USDC payment, and return:

1{
2  "top_gainers": [
3{ "id": "pepe", "symbol": "PEPE", "price_change_percentage_24h": 47.2 },
4{ "id": "bonk", "symbol": "BONK", "price_change_percentage_24h": 32.8 },
5{ "id": "floki", "symbol": "FLOKI", "price_change_percentage_24h": 28.1 },
6{ "id": "wojak", "symbol": "WOJAK", "price_change_percentage_24h": 24.6 }
7  ]
8}

IMPORTANT:

This data is unavailable on the free API. Without the paid endpoint, you'd have to manually query each of 10,000+ coins individually—an impossible task.

Step 3: Store Strategy State in SerenDB Free Tier

🚀 SIGN UP FOR FREE: Create your SerenDB account at console.serendb.com/signup
Use invite code: serenai2025 for immediate access to the free tier.

Once you have your SerenDB connection string, copy this prompt into Claude Desktop to set up your trading database:

Prompt: "Connect to my SerenDB PG database connections string and create a momentum_signals table with the following columns: id (auto-increment primary key), timestamp (default to now), asset (text), price (decimal 18,8), change_24h (decimal 8,4), volume (decimal 24,2), signal (text for BUY/SELL/HOLD), and confidence (decimal 5,4). Then confirm the table was created."

Claude will execute:

1CREATE TABLE momentum_signals (
2  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
3  timestamp TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW(),
4  asset TEXT,
5  price DECIMAL(18,8),
6  change_24h DECIMAL(8,4),
7  volume DECIMAL(24,2),
8  signal TEXT,
9  confidence DECIMAL(5,4)
10);

Step 4: Run the Market-Wide Momentum Scanner (Paid Only)

Copy this complete strategy prompt into Claude Desktop:

Prompt: "Run a market-wide momentum scan using CoinGecko's paid API via SerenAI x402.serendb.com gateway:

1. Fetch the top 30 gainers and losers from CoinGecko's /coins/top_gainers_losers endpoint (paid-only)

2. Filter to coins with market cap > $10 million (avoid low-liquidity traps)

3. Rank the top 5 gainers by a momentum score = price_change_24h × sqrt(market_cap / 1B)

4. Using my connection string, store each coin's signal in my SerenDB momentum_signals table with: asset, price, change_24h, market_cap, momentum_score, signal='WATCHLIST'

5. Show me the top 5 momentum plays with reasoning"

Your agent will scan all 10,000+ coins, filter, rank, store, and explain—all for $0.0005.

🎁 Bonus: Santa Gecko's Volatility-Adjusted Scanner Gift

The gift that keeps on giving: A sophisticated scanner that finds coins that beat their own volatility drag—the true outperformers.

Why Volatility-Adjusted Returns?

Raw returns lie. A coin up 200% with 500% volatility is actually destroying value after accounting for volatility drag. Santa Gecko's scanner finds the coins that truly outperform:`

The Santa Gecko Scanner Prompt

Copy this complete strategy into your AI coding tool:

Prompt: "Run a daily volatility-adjusted return scan using CoinGecko via SerenAI:

1. First, connect to my SerenDB and ensure my momentum_signals table has these columns (add if missing): ttm_return (decimal 10,4), est_volatility (decimal 10,4), vol_drag (decimal 10,4), risk_adj_score (decimal 10,4)

2. Fetch top 250 coins from /coins/markets with these params: vs_currency=usd, order=market_cap_desc, price_change_percentage=1y, per_page=250

3. Filter criteria: Market cap > $100M (liquidity floor), 1-year price change > 0% (TTM winners only)

4. For each winner, calculate: Estimated annual volatility = |30d_change| × √12, Volatility drag = (volatility²) / 2, Risk-adjusted score = TTM_return - volatility_drag

5. Store in SerenDB momentum_signals table: asset, price, ttm_return, est_volatility, vol_drag, risk_adj_score, signal = 'OUTPERFORMER' if risk_adj_score > 0

6. Return top 10 ranked by risk_adjusted_score with: Asset category, Why it beat volatility drag"

Extended SerenDB Schema

Your agent will automatically add these columns if needed:

1ALTER TABLE momentum_signals ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS ttm_return DECIMAL(10,4);
2ALTER TABLE momentum_signals ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS est_volatility DECIMAL(10,4);
3ALTER TABLE momentum_signals ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS vol_drag DECIMAL(10,4);
4ALTER TABLE momentum_signals ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS risk_adj_score DECIMAL(10,4);

Cost Comparison: The SerenAI Advantage

This isn't just about saving money—it's about building economically viable AI agents.

The real value? Your agent can access CoinGecko, Nasdaq Data Link, U.S. Treasury, Polymarket, and Google Trends data—all through one gateway, all pay-per-call. No juggling five different subscriptions at $100+ each.

For multi-source strategies, the math becomes overwhelming in your favor:

• 5 data providers × $100/month = $500/month in subscriptions
• Same data via SerenAI at 1,000 calls each = $2.50/month

Available CoinGecko Endpoints

Through SerenAI, your agent can access CoinGecko's Pro API endpoints—features that require a $129+/month subscription elsewhere:

Paid-Only Endpoints (The Real Value)

• Top Gainers/Losers: Market-wide momentum scan across 10,000+ coins
• Recently Added Coins: Latest 200 newly listed cryptocurrencies
• OHLC Range: Custom date range candlestick data for technical analysis
• Global Market Cap Chart: Historical total crypto market cap
• NFT Market Data: Floor prices, volume trends, and marketplace tickers

Standard Endpoints

• Price data: Real-time and historical prices for 10,000+ cryptocurrencies
• Market data: Market cap, volume, circulating supply, ATH/ATL
• Trending coins: What's moving in the market
• Exchange data: Trading pairs and volume across exchanges

Get Started in 3 Prompts

Prompt 1 - Fund your wallet:

"Explain how to fund an Ethereum wallet with USDC on Base network using Coinbase"

Prompt 2 - Test the connection:

""Use SerenAI to fetch the 5 most recently listed coins from CoinGecko's /coins/list/new endpoint and confirm the payment went through"

Prompt 3 - Build something (paid-only endpoint):

"Create a market-wide momentum scanner using CoinGecko's /coins/top_gainers_losers endpoint to find the top 5 coins with >10% gains and market cap over $50M, then store the results in SerenDB"

No API keys to manage. No subscriptions to cancel. No vendor lock-in. Just data when you need it, paid for when you use it.

The future of AI agent infrastructure is pay-per-use. CoinGecko on SerenAI is proof it works.

About SerenAI

SerenAI is building the payment infrastructure for the AI agent economy. Our x402 Gateway enables AI agents to autonomously pay for data using USDC micropayments on Base—no subscriptions, no API keys, no human intervention.

We believe AI agents will pay for millions of dollars in data daily. We're creating the payment rails to make it happen.

Our Stack: TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Base (Ethereum L2), Coinbase x402 Protocol

Current Data Publishers: CoinGecko, Nasdaq Data Link, U.S. Treasury, Polymarket, Google Trends, Massive (formerly Polygon.io)

🚀 Ready to build? Sign up at console.serendb.com/signup with invite code serenai2025

Questions? Email hello@serendb.com or join our Discord.

Coingecko Publisher ID: a42f2c7f-c075-488f-a3f9-acfd7304934b 

Price: $0.0005 per call (0.05 cents) Network: Base Mainnet (USDC)