Original author: Haotian, crypto researcher

Rhythm Note: In the past two days, the biggest golden dog might be $PING on Base. It is the first token issued through the x402 protocol. x402 is an open payment protocol developed by Coinbase that allows AI agents to autonomously complete transactions. Based on the cost of the new issuance and the current coin price, a successful mint yields about 18 times the return. Its minting process is reminiscent of the inscriptions from two years ago. For more information on PING and the x402 protocol, refer to: “The 30x Golden Dog Like Inscriptions, What is the x402 Protocol?”.

Currently, PING's market cap has surpassed $30 million, with a 24-hour increase of over 8 times, which has sparked expectations for a second "inscription boom." Crypto researcher Haotian has also provided his analysis of this wave; the following is the original content:

1. Why is it similar? The core lies in on-chain legitimate data + off-chain interpretation rights.

The operational logic of inscriptions is: Users send transactions to the BTC mainnet and occupy specific UTXOs, but the BTC mainnet does not have the ability to determine which transactions are valid. The Ordinals protocol acts as the indexer that judges whether inscriptions are valid. It serves as a third-party arbiter, scanning all transactions on the chain and determining which are valid true inscriptions according to its defined rules, such as "First is First."

The operational logic of PING is almost the same formula: Users send USDC to a specific address on the Base chain, which is dynamically returned by x402scan. This is equivalent to the user issuing a "payment request" to the x402 protocol, but neither the Base chain nor the x402 protocol itself knows that this is "minting $PING"; in their eyes, this is just a regular ERC20 transfer.

What truly gives this transaction its "minting significance" is the x402scan indexer: It scans all USDC transfers sent to specific addresses on the Base chain, determines which transactions are "valid mints" according to its defined rules (1 USDC = 5000 $PING), and then records them in an off-chain database and distributes tokens through a contract.

2. Where is the similarity?

When inscriptions first emerged, they faced resistance from the Bitcoin Core team because their existence only filled the BTC mainnet with a large number of dust transactions, providing no value. Clearly, following this line of thought, the logic of $PING's existence is similar, but like the BTC mainnet, the x402 protocol, as an open standard, cannot do anything even if it is not well-received in the short term.

The principle is simple: The assets used for minting inscriptions still exist on the BTC mainnet. Once the hype around inscriptions fades, some BTC can still be returned, but the PING that everyone mints actually goes into the treasury wallet designated by x402scan. The team is crowdfunding while issuing tokens, and the real x402 protocol has only been "exploited" in the process.

Don't rush to criticize me, this behavior I mentioned earlier is a "charge signal" action, which greatly benefits the exposure and dissemination of the x402 track. It effectively creates usage scenarios for the x402 protocol, and the results are immediate; it can also be seen as a pressure test for the x402 protocol, undoubtedly a "singularity in the narrative of x402," which will give rise to a series of improvements and ecological prosperity possibilities.

3. Will it evolve like the inscription market?

Yes, as mentioned earlier, the significance of PING's existence is actually the x402scan indexer. But it clearly has significant issues: For example, assets are held under its own centralized entity, which goes against the original intention of the x402 protocol to open payment channels for AI agents, and it may not be seamlessly compatible with other x402 protocols, nor does it have unified standards for minting, transferring, and burning operations.

Therefore, following the evolutionary logic of BRC20-ARC20-SRC20-Runes, I believe many new "inscriptions" claiming to be more "orthodox" will emerge.

For instance, improving custody methods, changing the form of transactions for minting, obtaining native protocol support, and so on. To exaggerate, even if the x402scan protocol were to run away or the Treasury were to abscond with funds, it would not stop this wave from gaining momentum; Pandora's box has already been opened!

That's all.

I want to reiterate a point: the explosion of the x402 narrative is certain, $PING is just the call to charge, and how the market evolves afterward may involve many possibilities. The above sharing is merely a cognitive logic and does not constitute any investment advice, but there is no need to be anxious; the upcoming excitement is worth joining!
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