Coinbase has launched a brand new payments protocol for on-line payments that allows stablecoin transfers over customary web protocols and AI agents to transact autonomously.
On Might 6, Coinbase announced that it’s launching a protocol referred to as x402 for immediate stablecoin payments straight over the web communication protocol HTTP (Hypertext Switch Protocol).
It permits Software Programming Interface (APIs), apps, and AI agents to transact seamlessly, “unlocking a sooner, automated web financial system,” the agency stated.
Coinbase mentioned that x402 “is fixing the web’s first mistake.” The protocol resurrects the experimental HTTP 402 “Fee Required” standing code to create a seamless fee system native to the web.
The agency famous that conventional fee rails, resembling bank cards, financial institution transfers and subscriptions, “had been constructed for a pre-internet world.”
They’re gradual, costly, geographically restricted, and “riddled with handbook steps,” it added.
Nonetheless, x402 embeds stablecoin payments straight into net interactions, requiring minimal code integration, and is designed for each people and AI agents to transact worth as simply as exchanging knowledge.
The pinnacle of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform and co-author of the x402 white paper, Erik Reppel, mentioned, “We’re laying the groundwork for an financial system run not simply by folks, however by software program — autonomous, clever, and all the time on.”
Associated: Coinbase sees first crypto transaction between AI agents
Gagan Mac, vice chairman of product administration at Circle, mentioned x402 “elegantly simplifies real-time monetization” and unlocks “thrilling new use circumstances like micropayments for AI agents and apps.”
Coinbase is launching the brand new protocol in partnership with AWS (Amazon Net Companies), stablecoin issuer Circle, AI firm Anthropic and AI-focused proof-of-stake layer-1 blockchain Near Protocol.
Large advantages for agentic AI
AI agents can obtain financial autonomy by independently transacting with out human intervention. The protocol permits AI agents to entry paid assets in real-time based mostly on their wants and eliminates dependency on pre-paid credit, API keys, or human-managed accounts.
AI agents can even provision and pay for {hardware} assets in real-time, entry specialised knowledge sources via micropayments, and pay different AI systems for companies.
The x402 protocol basically transforms AI agents from instruments that require fixed human interplay into autonomous financial actors that may independently uncover, buy and make the most of assets to accomplish their targets.
Builders can use the protocol to monetize APIs, create software program unlocks and allow metered companies that dynamically cost customers based mostly on precise useful resource utilization, whereas content material creators can monetize their content material with out the necessity for blanket subscriptions or bank card minimums and costs.
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Cointelegraph by Martin Younger Coinbase x402 payments protocol to make AI agents more autonomous cointelegraph.com 2025-05-07 03:03:01
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