x402 Transaction Data Surges Dozens of Times in a Single Week, Capital Flows to Utility Projects Amid Ecosystem Divergence
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x402 Transaction Data Surges Dozens of Times in a Single Week, Capital Flows to Utility Projects Amid Ecosystem Divergence
Early MEME coins were popular, but funds are gradually shifting toward AI application projects like PAYAI and OpenServ, indicating the market is increasingly focused on practical application value.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Nancy, PANews
The long-dormant crypto market has come alive again, with the open-source protocol x402 suddenly gaining popularity in recent days, rapidly becoming a focal point of market attention. Transaction volumes and activity have noticeably surged, and ecosystem projects have emerged as new hotspots for capital inflows.
Transaction data skyrocketed数十-fold within a single week, driven by multiple factors including MEMEs, CEXs, and ecosystem players
In May this year, Coinbase's developer platform officially announced the launch of the x402 protocol, aiming to activate the long-reserved but underutilized HTTP 402 (Payment Required) status code, transforming it into an on-chain payment layer targeting new application scenarios such as API providers, content creators, and context protocols.
On-chain data shows that for months after its launch, x402 ecosystem activity remained relatively sluggish, only experiencing significant explosive growth recently.
According to data from the x402scan explorer, as of October 26, the cumulative number of transactions on the x402 platform has exceeded 1.446 million. In terms of time distribution, from launch until October 23, daily transaction volume mostly stayed between hundreds and thousands, showing relatively stable performance with limited ecosystem activity. Starting October 24, the x402 ecosystem saw a significant leap, with daily transaction counts reaching hundreds of thousands—tens to hundreds of times higher than before. Within just one week, these transactions accounted for 63.8% of the total cumulative volume.
Transaction value data also shows high short-term concentration. Prior to October 23, daily transaction values on x402 were typically only tens to hundreds of dollars. However, in the following days, daily values jumped to hundreds of thousands of dollars, contributing approximately $1.59 million in just three days—69.1% of the total transaction value.
The surge in transaction volume is inseparable from the rapid expansion of buyer and seller numbers. As of October 26, the number of buyers on x402 reached 74,000, an increase of 70,000 over the past week; the number of sellers stood at 1,405, up 327.1% over the past three days.
From the perspective of transaction executors, Dune data shows that transaction activity is highly concentrated among a small number of core Facilitators. Coinbase Facilitator (Base) is the largest "payment proxy," having processed over $1.004 million in transaction volume across more than 1.16 million transactions. The second-largest, PayAI (Base and Solana), has handled over $219,000 in volume and more than 175,000 transactions. All other Facilitators have handled significantly smaller volumes.
The recent short-term explosion in the x402 ecosystem was primarily triggered by the sharp rise of PING, the first MEME coin launched via this protocol. This event attracted massive trading and speculative capital. At the same time, listings on major exchanges like Binance and OKX, along with concentrated promotion by ecosystem players such as Base, created a highly focused exposure effect, rapidly activating x402 in a short period.
Despite rapid growth, market fragmentation is evident, with capital flowing toward practical projects
As market attention quickly rises and capital continues to pour in, the x402 ecosystem is expanding rapidly, covering client integrations, services/interfaces, infrastructure and tools, learning and community resources, and Facilitators. According to the latest data from CoinGecko, there are currently 41 projects in the x402 ecosystem, with a total token market cap exceeding $780 million and a 24-hour overall price increase of 351.3%.
In terms of market performance, most projects saw varying degrees of price increases last week, with nearly half achieving triple- or even quadruple-digit gains. However, it should be noted that these high-growth projects are mostly small-cap, prone to sharp short-term volatility driven by capital flows, and carry high risks.
In terms of trading activity, the x402 ecosystem recorded $240 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours. EigenCloud, an established project, accounted for nearly half of that, around $114 million. Only PING and PAYAI reached transaction scales in the tens of millions of dollars, while less than one-third of projects achieved daily trading volumes in the millions. Most other projects had transaction values ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, indicating a clear Matthew effect within the ecosystem.
In terms of market size, EigenCloud is the main market cap driver at approximately $450 million. Although the project integrated the x402 payment standard in October this year to enable instant stablecoin payments, its market cap growth was not primarily driven by the x402 ecosystem. There are only nine mid-sized projects with market caps in the tens of millions, including Bankr, PAYAI, OpenServ, and PING. The remaining ~75% of projects have market caps in the hundreds of thousands to a few million dollars, reflecting a highly fragmented market structure.
In terms of project types, leading projects are mainly AI Agents and MEME coins. MEME coins are largely influenced by market sentiment—for example, PING briefly led the sector outside of EigenCloud but was later overtaken by AI-focused projects like PAYAI and OpenServ—indicating that capital is gradually shifting toward projects with real application value.
Overall, the short-term explosion of the x402 ecosystem stems from market interest in this new narrative of on-chain payment protocols, rapidly heating up due to early growth potential, wealth-effect appeal, and concentrated marketing, primarily centered on top-tier projects. As the hype spreads, the market is increasingly focusing on the ecosystem’s actual utility and long-term sustainability.
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