Coinbase, an online payment protocol introduced in May that enables AI agents to transact in stablecoins over the internet, has seen transaction activity increase by more than 10,000% in the past month.
At the time, Coinbase said x402 fixes “the Internet’s first mistake” by resurrecting the Internet communications protocol Hypertext Transfer Protocol 402 – or HTTP 402 – to create a seamless payments system on the Internet.
It lets AI – and humans – make payments directly when using a website or app: They make some request, receive an HTTP 402 “Payment Required” prompt, and then send a signed stablecoin payment, which x402 automatically verifies. No Credit Card Required.
According to Dune Analytics data, there were approximately 500,000 x402 transactions between October 14 and 20, representing a 10,780% increase compared to levels seen four weeks earlier.
Transaction activity increased even more on Friday, with other Dune Analytics data showing that a record 239,505 transactions were made, while Thursday posted a record $332,000 in transaction volume.
This comes after the crypto arm of tech-focused venture capital firm a16z mentioned agentic AI in its 2025 State of Crypto report earlier this week – where it estimated that autonomous transactions could reach $30 trillion by 2030.
Coinbase development team members Kevin LeFew and Lincoln Moore said in August that without the need for human intervention in managing API calls, storage, and calculations, agent AI could enable everything from self-driving taxis that cover their costs with stablecoins to apps that use stablecoins to automatically store data.
In a limited way, AI agents are already trading crypto by analyzing market data, executing buy or sell orders, and optimizing portfolios in real-time without human intervention.
CoinGecko lists x402 token as a new category
Developers are now taking advantage of x402’s design to launch tokens directly — fueling a wave of x402-powered memecoin launches, KuCoin Ventures noted on X.
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The surge prompted CoinGecko to track the x402 token as a new ecosystem, which has surged by 266% in the past 24 hours to a market cap of nearly $180 million.
Ethereum is best suited for HTTP 402
Lefeu and Moore said Ethereum’s trustless settlement layer makes it the ideal blockchain for HTTP 402 implementation, noting that it makes invoicing and dispute chargebacks far more efficient than traditional processes.
“They need atomic payments, programmable policies, and composable wallets. Ethereum and stablecoins give them exactly that.”
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