Coinbase introduces a new payments protocol for online payments that enables stablecoin transfers

Gagan Mac, vice president of product management at Circle, said x402 “elegantly simplifies real-time monetization” and unlocks “exciting new use cases

Coinbase has unveiled a novel payments protocol designed for enabling stablecoin transfers over standard internet protocols and allowing AI agents to transact autonomously.

On May 6, Coinbase announced the launch of its protocol, x402, for facilitating instant stablecoin payments directly over the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) internet communication protocol.

It allows Application Programming Interface (APIs), apps, and AI agents to transact seamlessly, “unlocking a faster, automated internet economy,” the firm stated.

Coinbase said that x402 “is fixing the internet’s first mistake.” The protocol resurrects the experimental HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code to create a seamless payment system native to the internet.

The firm noted that traditional payment rails, such as credit cards, bank transfers and subscriptions, “were built for a pre-internet world.” They’re slow, expensive, geographically limited, and “riddled with manual steps,” it added.

However, x402 embeds stablecoin payments directly into web interactions, requiring minimal code integration, and is designed for both humans and AI agents to transact value as easily as exchanging data.

The head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform and co-author of the x402 white paper, Erik Reppel, said, “We’re laying the groundwork for an economy run not just by people, but by software — autonomous, intelligent, and always on.”

Related: Coinbase sees first crypto transaction between AI agents

Gagan Mac, vice president of product management at Circle, said x402 “elegantly simplifies real-time monetization” and unlocks “exciting new use cases like micropayments for AI agents and apps.”

Coinbase is launching the new protocol in partnership with AWS (Amazon Web Services), stablecoin issuer Circle, AI company Anthropic and AI-focused proof-of-stance layer-1 blockchain Near Protocol.

8x402 is fixing the internet’s first mistake. 🔗

HTTP 402: Payment Required.

It allows Application Programming Interface (APIs), apps, and AI agents to transact autonomously, “unlocking a faster, automated internet economy.”

Coinbase has announced that it is launching a protocol called x402 for instant stablecoin payments directly over the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) internet communication protocol.

The protocol embeds stablecoin payments directly into web interactions, requiring minimal code integration, and is designed for both humans and AI agents to transact value as easily as exchanging data.

The firm noted that traditional payment rails, such as credit cards, bank transfers and subscriptions, “were built for a pre-internet world.” They’re slow, expensive, geographically limited, and “riddled with manual steps.”

However, with x402, AI agents can achieve economic autonomy by independently transacting without human intervention. The protocol enables AI agents to access paid resources in real-time based on their needs and eliminates dependency on pre-paid credits, API keys, or human-managed accounts.

The head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform and co-author of the x402 white paper, Erik Reppel, said, “We’re laying the groundwork for an economy run not just