1. Introduction to the concept

The X402 protocol, an open payment protocol launched by Coinbase, derives its name from the "402" HTTP status code, meaning "payment is required to continue accessing the site." It aims to teach machines to "pay," solving a straightforward problem: enabling AI or software agents to shop, settle, and pay online like humans. The process involves identity authentication, data interaction, and API calls, all handled autonomously by the AI. We only need to pre-set its permissions and spending limits. Technically, X402 is the internet's "payment interface": the agent initiates a request; the facilitator (payment node) verifies and completes the settlement; the merchant (developer) receives the stablecoins and returns the result.

In this way, AI no longer needs accounts or keys to make cross-chain payments directly using stablecoins such as USDC . Combined with the AP2 protocol led by Google—AP2 is responsible for "who can pay" and X402 is responsible for "how to pay"—the two together form a closed loop of "authorization → execution → settlement" for AI.

2. Track Analysis

This wave of X402 hype started with the Coinbase Commerce team releasing new documentation that opened up the standard and SDK interfaces. Subsequently, more and more projects began building products around it; the representative projects are summarized below:

PayAI

Project Overview: PayAI is a new project on the Solana blockchain, focusing on the concept of "AI agents hiring each other to complete tasks." It's essentially a platform for AI agents to work and collaborate, allowing different AIs to post and accept tasks and settle payments via the blockchain. The product boasts high usage and penetration; PayAI has already processed over 14% of the entire x402 ecosystem's transaction volume. PayAI is also the first payment node on Solana to implement the X402 protocol, ranking among the top in the ecosystem in terms of transaction share.

Token Economic Model: The total supply of PayAI tokens is 1 billion, with a 100% initial circulating supply structure. There is no private sale, no lock-up period, and no team allocation. Upon launch, the PayAI team purchased 20% of the tokens at the offering price and transferred them to the project treasury for operational, community incentive, and collaborative promotion purposes. The treasury tokens are divided into two parts: half is used to provide liquidity and generate transaction fee revenue; the other half will be linearly released over one year.

Token function:

1. Used for fee deduction in task transactions;

2. Increase the agent's exposure and ranking in the task market;

3. Used for governance voting and proposal voting;

4. As a security deposit for dispute arbitration;

5. It undertakes the functions of settlement incentives and node rewards in the X402 payment layer.

PingAI

Project Overview: PingAI is a routing layer node deployed on the Base chain, directly integrated with Coinbase Commerce. Tokens are minted via the X402 protocol, employing a "hardcore minting" method reminiscent of the early inscription craze—lacking a sophisticated front-end interface, purely on-chain operations, and leaning towards a geeky style. Initially positioned as a pure meme token, the project recently transitioned to a Launchpad platform token, reducing its reliance on sentiment consensus. Simultaneously, the team plans to expand its asset issuance narrative within the X402 track, encompassing more application-oriented directions such as GameFi and SocialFi.

Token Economic Model: PingAI tokens are minted on the Base chain using an "on-demand payment" model. Early users can obtain 5,000 $PING tokens by paying $1. The initial supply is relatively large, and due to the absence of a lock-up period and pre-sale phase, this model is mainly distributed through the community, resulting in extremely dispersed initial supply and significant price volatility.

Token function:

1. As the initial token of the X402 protocol, it serves as an ecological symbol and a carrier of consensus;

2. Used for community activities, task participation, and ecosystem incentives;

3. Future plans include using the funds for node staking and liquidity governance;

4. It also possesses Meme attributes and is the representative coin of the X402 ecological and cultural consensus.

GoKite AI

Project Overview: GoKite Kite is building an AI-powered payment blockchain where autonomous AI agents can operate with verifiable identities and programmable governance, and natively access stablecoin payments. As of the end of October 2025, the GoKite AI network had processed over 600 million AI calls, with approximately 13.6 million users connected. Combining AI agents, autonomous execution, and on-chain payments, it represents a rare Layer 1 project in the AI+payments sector.

Funding and Team: GoKite AI garnered early institutional attention, raising $18 million in its Series A funding round, led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. Formerly known as Zettablock, GoKite's team members come from companies such as Uber, Databricks, Salesforce, and NEAR, and the company has partnered with platforms like PayPal and Shopify to pilot projects, building a "foundational layer for the proxy internet."

Token Economic Model: The total supply of GoKite AI tokens is 10 billion KITE. The distribution structure is as follows: Ecosystem and Community: 48%; Kite Modules and Tools Layer: 20%; Team, Advisors, and Early Contributors: 20%; Investors: 12%. The token release plan is guided by long-term incentives, with the team and investor shares unlocked in phases.

Token function:

1. Used for payment and settlement of AI agent tasks;

2. As the base token for governance and reputation rating;

3. Participate in agreement upgrades and proposal voting;

4. Used for testnets and task incentives;

5. Future updates will support module integration and cross-chain task settlement.

Questflow

Project Introduction: Questflow is not a single AI tool, but a platform that enables multiple AI agents to collaborate, somewhat like an "AI employee scheduling system." The AI of the future will not just be a tool, but a new form of labor. In the future, every team may have its own AI assistant and AI employees, and Questflow is building this "AI collaboration hub." It's like the App Store for the AI era.

Funding and Partnerships: It recently completed a $6.5 million funding round with investors including Coinbase, Circle, Animoca, HashKey, Aptos, and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin. Questflow has already partnered with Google, Near, Coinbase, and Circle.

TGE time: Not yet announced.

The emergence of projects like GoKite AI and Questflow illustrates a shift in capital investment from short-term speculation to infrastructure-level AI payment deployments. While we may see more institutions favoring the X402 protocol in the future, we must be wary of the "halo effect" and look beyond the surface. Why are top institutions investing in them? Are they attracted by genuine technological barriers or narrative potential? Is the project merely a concept or already being implemented? What is the founding team's execution capability and the project's progress? What is the actual feedback from users and traditional merchants? These are perhaps the areas we, as investors, should focus on.

The topic of X402 on social media continues to surge in popularity over the past two weeks, with the market discussing whether it could be the "HTTP moment" for the AI economy. The initial 80-fold increase in PayAI's stock price after its launch and Binance's recent launch of GoKite AI have further fueled the sector's momentum. It's worth noting that beyond the hype, more and more investors and developers are returning to rationality. Currently, the three things everyone is most concerned about are: the number of merchants integrating, the number of actual payment transactions, and developer activity. Only if these three indicators continue to grow will X402 truly move beyond the narrative and enter the implementation phase.

3. Background Source

From its inception by Coinbase to its current status as a collaborative open payment standard, X402 is not solely led by Coinbase; it's more of an "industry-wide collaborative open standard." Teams from Base, Cloudflare, Circle, LangChain, and Autonolas are currently involved in its development in various directions. Initially, the concept of X402 was proposed by the Coinbase Commerce team, but it quickly evolved into a collaborative open standard. Sid Coelho-Prabhu, who oversees payment operations at Coinbase, spearheaded the transformation of this protocol from a "concept" into a system capable of running on the blockchain. Underlying performance is supported by the Base chain, settlement is handled by Circle's USDC, and the AI agent framework integrates LangChain and Autonolas. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of these parties, X402 has transformed from an experimental standard into a truly usable open protocol. Simultaneously, the division of labor within the ecosystem has become clearer, with some working on SDKs, others on payment interfaces, and still others on improving identity verification and stablecoin settlement layers. It is this open collaboration that has enabled X402 to move from the experimental stage to an industry-level application framework.

In short, Coinbase is the one who started the fire, but not the only driver. The entire industry is exploring how AI can learn to pay. The ultimate goal is to make X402 the industry standard for AI payments, rather than a proprietary protocol of any one company.

For the Web3 community, this represents a long-lost spirit of collaboration. It's reminiscent of the early BTC/ETH forums, where developers from around the world contributed code on GitHub, patched bugs, and iterated together. This may be the most fundamental consensus in our crypto world—we focus on doing one thing well, making it take root and flourish; whether it changes the world depends entirely on everyone's belief. After all, isn't the essence of blockchain precisely this spirit of "open collaboration, not hype and speculation"?

4. Outlook

In summary, the X402 ecosystem is taking shape. PING secured the initial consensus, PayAI successfully implemented cross-chain payments, and GoKite brought AI execution capabilities onto the blockchain. These three components act like three complete building blocks, pushing the concept of "AI paying on its own" from concept to reality. X402, together with AP2, forms a new underlying payment system—a system that truly endows machines with economic identity. While standards are still evolving and implemented projects are limited, the trend is clear: the first expenditure in the AI economy will likely begin with X402.

Just as HTTP allows information to flow freely, X402 may be the channel that truly allows "value" to flow. RWA brings real-world assets onto the blockchain, while X402 allows these on-chain assets to flow back into real-world consumption scenarios, forming a new value loop. Perhaps one day in the future, what will truly make crypto mainstream is not ETFs, but merchants like Starbucks, McDonald's, and Amazon directly accepting USDC, USDT, and even USD1 . At that time, crypto payments will no longer be a concept, but will enter everyone's life. If 2023 was the year of the AI content explosion, then 2025 will most likely be the year of the AI payment takeoff, and X402 may very well be the starting point of that revolution.