A long-forgotten HTTP status code is sparking a new gold rush in the cryptocurrency market, with AI agents taking center stage. “In the past seven days, the trading volume of the x402 protocol surged by 701.7%, with the number of transactions reaching 163,600 and the transaction amount skyrocketing by 8218.5%, approaching $140,000.”
Behind this data is the explosive growth of the open-source payment protocol x402 launched by Coinbase. The driving force behind this growth is the first token based on the protocol, PING — which created the myth of a market cap that broke $20 million in just a few days.
1. x402 Protocol: Awakening the Dormant HTTP 402 Status Code
Before delving into this craze, we first need to understand what the x402 protocol actually is.
● The x402 protocol was launched by the U.S. compliant exchange Coinbase in May 2025. It is an open-source, HTTP-native payment protocol. Its name comes from a long-unused status code in the HTTP protocol, “402 Payment Required.”
In simple terms, x402 allows websites, APIs, and even AI agents to directly request payments through network requests, without requiring users to register or undergo complex authentication; they only need to pay stablecoins (mainly USDC) through a digital wallet.
● The core value of the x402 protocol lies in solving the autonomous payment problem for AI agents.
In the rapidly developing year of 2025, AI agents face a significant challenge: although they can help users query data, use APIs, or purchase computing power, they cannot log into websites, enter passwords, or swipe cards like humans.
Traditional payment methods are slow, complex, and incur fees of 2-3%, making them unsuitable for the “micro-payment” needs of AI (for example, purchasing data for a few cents). The x402 protocol fills this gap, charging only minimal gas fees based on blockchain technology (primarily on the Base chain), allowing AI to directly pay for services without human intervention.
2. Ecological Explosion: The Evolution from Concept to Hotspot
The explosive growth of the x402 protocol began in October 2025, driven by several key events:
● Big Company Endorsement: On September 23, Cloudflare and Coinbase jointly established the “x402 Foundation,” labeling it as “officially certified.” Cloudflare's servers began supporting x402 transactions, meaning that websites worldwide could use it.
● Acceptance by Giants: Google incorporated x402 into the AP2 protocol (AI agent standard), and AWS, Anthropic, Circle, and others also joined, indicating a collective optimism from tech giants.
● Support from Payment Giants: On October 14, Visa released the Trusted Agent Protocol (TAP), explicitly stating it was developed in collaboration with Cloudflare, and provided specifications and implementation examples in the Visa Developer Center.
● Wealth Effect Emerges: Around October 23, the first token based on the x402 protocol, PING, was launched on the Base chain, allowing users to randomly receive 5,000 PING tokens by paying 1 USDC. PING's market cap once exceeded $30 million, with an increase of 18 times, creating a significant wealth effect.
The table below summarizes key projects in the x402 protocol ecosystem and their market performance:
Project Name
Positioning
Market Cap/Data
Features
PING
First token of the x402 protocol
Peak $20M+
Based on Base chain, pay 1 USDC to randomly receive 5,000
PayAI Network
AI payment infrastructure
$5.1M
Solana priority, providing millisecond-level settlement
Daydreams
AI agent framework and payment platform
$6.4M
Focus on long-term task planning and execution
Questflow
Multi-AI agent orchestration layer
Top trading volume in the x402 rankings
Handles over 130,000 autonomous micro-transactions
KITE AI
Agent internet infrastructure
Secured $18M Series A funding
Provides identity verification and programmable payments
Source: AiCoin compilation
3. Market Impact: How x402 is Stirring the Crypto Market
The rapid rise of the x402 protocol and its ecosystem tokens is having a multi-faceted impact on the cryptocurrency market.
Price and Trading Aspects
● Token prices are highly volatile, with PING, as the first token issued based on the x402 protocol, seeing its market cap break $20 million in just a few days, peaking at $30 million, creating an astonishing wealth effect. The x402 protocol ignites the AI payment revolution: the unfinished payment dream of the internet is being realized by cryptocurrency.
● Trading activity has surged, with data from the x402scan browser showing that the trading volume of the x402 protocol increased by 701.7% in the past seven days, reaching 163,600 transactions. The transaction amount soared by 8218.5%, approaching $140,000.
● Related concept tokens are in demand, following the successful demonstration of PING, a series of x402 concept tokens such as $SANTA, $PAYAI, and $GLORIA have emerged, forming a nascent x402 ecosystem.
On-chain Fundamentals
● Base chain activity has significantly increased, with most x402 protocol transactions occurring on Coinbase's Base chain. In the past week, the x402 protocol processed hundreds of thousands of transactions on the Base chain, bringing tangible on-chain activity and fee revenue.
● Address numbers have surged, with the rising popularity of the x402 protocol, the number of buyers has increased by over 1.5 million, totaling about 31,000 new addresses. This indicates that the protocol is attracting a large number of new users into the crypto ecosystem.
Funding and Liquidity
● Increased use of stablecoins, the x402 protocol supports micro-payments with stablecoins like USDC, with a settlement time of just 2 seconds, and the protocol itself has zero fees. This greatly enhances the potential application of stablecoins in payment scenarios.
● Exchanges are responding quickly, to meet investor demand, Binance Wallet has added the x402 token list, enhancing the liquidity and visibility of related tokens.
Industry and Sentiment
● Accelerated integration of AI and Crypto, the x402 protocol is seen as a bridge between the two top tracks of AI and Crypto, laying the foundation for the “agent economy” by solving the payment issues of AI agents.
● Market sentiment is a mix of excitement and caution, on one hand, the market is full of expectations for the future of the x402 protocol, believing it could become the Web3 payment standard, comparable to HTTPS for Web2. On the other hand, many experts warn that there is a lot of speculation in the current ecosystem, and risks need to be heeded.
4. Data Insights: Key Indicators of the x402 Protocol
The table below presents the main on-chain data indicators of the x402 protocol during its explosive period, helping us to better understand its growth scale:
Indicator Type
Specific Data
Growth Rate
Statistical Period
Number of Transactions
163,600 transactions
701.7%
Past 7 days
Transaction Amount
$140,200
8,218.5%
Past 7 days
Number of Buyers
31,000 people
15,000%
Past 7 days
Total Transaction Volume of the Protocol
Nearly 500,000 transactions
10,780%
Within a week (October 14-20)
Single Day Transaction Peak
239,500 transactions
-
-
Single Day Amount Peak
$332,000
-
-
Source: AiCoin official website
5. Perspectives: How the Market Views the x402 Phenomenon
In the face of the rapid rise of the x402 protocol, various market participants have expressed different views.
● “Tech Pragmatists”: Abstract developer Jarrod Watts believes that x402 is a truly innovative technology related to cryptocurrency, providing a very powerful use case for stablecoins, enabling AI agents to achieve native interaction with the internet.
In his view, x402 “kills API keys,” allowing payments to be completed directly through HTTP requests, enabling AI agents to access paid APIs without human intervention.
● “Risk Warning Advocates”: Slow Mist's Yu Xian reminds investors that x402 is only responsible for payments and does not include the issuance of tokens or additional materials. Recently, due to the rising popularity of the PING token, users need to be cautious when authorizing signatures to prevent financial risks.
● “Ecosystem Optimists”: As early as May this year, user Simon Taylor commented that “x402 allows digital currency to flow like data, creating a truly meaningful subscription alternative in the internet economy.” He boldly predicts: x402 could bring security to money like HTTPS and become a standard supporting trillions of transactions.
The current overall market sentiment shows a clear FOMO (fear of missing out) atmosphere, but as price volatility increases, some investors are beginning to adopt a cautious wait-and-see approach.
6. Risk Warning: Investment Alerts Amid the x402 Craze
Despite the x402 protocol showing great potential, investors still need to be wary of the risks involved.
● Technical Risks: As an emerging protocol, the x402 protocol's capabilities in identity verification, privacy protection, and defense against complex attacks are yet to be tested over time. Critics point out that its architecture lacks modern privacy protection technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs (zk-ID).
● Speculative Risks: Many popular “x402 ecosystem tokens” currently have no direct relationship with the protocol's official status, and are more a result of market speculation, leading to significant price volatility. Slow Mist's Yu Xian particularly warns, “x402 is only responsible for payments and does not include the issuance of tokens or additional materials; due to the rising popularity of the PING token, users need to be cautious when authorizing signatures to prevent financial risks.”
● Regulatory Risks: How to meet the financial regulatory requirements of different regions (such as KYC) is also a challenge that must be faced.
● Competitive Risks: This field is not without competitors; projects like Nevermined also offer similar solutions and have their own advantages in payment model flexibility and compliance tools.
● Ecosystem Sustainability Risks: Currently, the market's hotspots are largely driven by token issuance and speculation. The long-term development of the protocol hinges on its ability to attract a sufficient number of heavyweight commercial applications, rather than just the issuance of Memecoins.
7. Future Outlook: The Evolution Path of the x402 Protocol
Looking ahead, the development of the x402 protocol may evolve along the following directions:
● Short-term (1-3 months): The x402 ecosystem may continue to see new token issuance projects emerge, along with more self-proclaimed "authentic" new projects that may improve custody methods, change the form of transaction minting, or seek native protocol support, among other things.
● Medium-term (6-12 months): As more websites support x402, the demand for AI agents to purchase data and computing power will proliferate with the AI boom. If the current momentum continues, x402 could become one of Coinbase's most successful developer-led initiatives.
● Long-term (1-2 years): The x402 protocol has the potential to become the Web3 payment standard, comparable to HTTPS for Web2. It is expected to be a key player in the rise of machine-to-machine (M2M) payments, supporting the so-called "agent economy."
The development path of the x402 protocol has already begun to diverge: one leading to pragmatic technological innovation — becoming the payment layer for the AI agent economy; the other pointing towards frenzied token speculation — giving birth to a new generation of meme coins.
In the coming weeks, two dynamics are worth closely monitoring: first, whether the x402 Foundation will launch a standard upgrade for the protocol, and second, whether any well-known AI projects will announce the integration of x402 payments. These two signals will determine whether this craze is just another fleeting moment in the crypto market or the true starting point of a digital revolution.
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