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What Is x402? How AI Agents Pay With Crypto
x402 is an open standard that lets websites and services charge for access through ordinary web requests, with payments made in cryptocurrency. It aims to let AI agents pay automatically for individual API calls and other services, addressing a gap in web payments as more software acts online on users’ behalf.
Coinbase launched x402 in May 2025, and the Linux Foundation’s vendor-neutral x402 Foundation now oversees it. Payments are mostly in USDC and commonly settle on Base, where transactions take seconds and cost well under a cent; the standard also supports other blockchains and card payments. By 1 November 2026, it had processed more than 196 million transactions across 12 chains, settling over $42 million, though activity has cooled since a late-2025 trading surge. x402 is a protocol, not a cryptocurrency, and has no official native token.
In short
- x402 lets software pay for web services as part of a request.
- It mainly uses USDC, with low-cost settlement on Base.
- The standard has no official cryptocurrency of its own.
Explained simply
Websites usually charge through subscriptions, accounts or card checkouts. x402 is a standard that lets a service request payment as part of a web request, so software can pay for a single use, such as an API call, without a person completing each checkout.
Coinbase introduced x402 in 2025, and the Linux Foundation’s x402 Foundation oversees the standard. Payments are commonly made in USDC, a cryptocurrency designed to track the US dollar, and often settle on Base, a blockchain linked to Coinbase; other blockchains and card payments are also supported.
The idea matters as AI agents increasingly carry out online tasks for people and may need to access paid services along the way. x402 describes how those payments can be requested and made; it is not itself a cryptocurrency and has no official native token.
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