x402 Besides meme coins, what other projects should you pay attention to?
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x402 Besides meme coins, what other projects should you pay attention to?
The seemingly simple "automatic payment" is actually backed by an entire ecosystem being rebuilt from the ground up.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Viee, core contributor of Biteye
To understand x402, we need to start with a nearly thirty-year-old "legacy feature" that was long set aside.
As early as 1997, the HTTP protocol reserved status code 402, meaning "Payment Required." However, due to the lack of viable payment methods, it remained deprecated.
Today, crypto-native stablecoins have matured, L2s have reduced payment costs, and the rise of AI Agents has created real demand for micropayments. Thus, Coinbase has leveraged this "long-forgotten button" to launch the x402 protocol: enabling anyone or any AI to access paid content via on-chain payments—without needing to register an account or navigate away from the page.
This seemingly simple "automatic payment" function is actually backed by an entire ecosystem being rebuilt from the ground up. From protocol standards to infrastructure and applications, x402 has the potential to reshape the logic of internet payments.
This article dives deep into the emerging x402 ecosystem to explore which protocols, chains, infrastructures, and applications—beyond memes—are actually gaining traction.
1. Protocol Layer: Enabling Payment Capability for AI Agents
The x402 protocol layer isn't a single standard but a modular suite solving three key challenges: how AI agents communicate, make payments, and establish identity and trust.
At its core is the x402 protocol itself, built upon the HTTP 402 status code. It allows AI to automatically receive payment requests when accessing paid content or APIs, and complete on-chain transfers using stablecoins like USDC—all without registration or redirection.
To enable agent-to-agent coordination, Google introduced the A2A (Agent-to-Agent) protocol to standardize communication and task handoff between agents. Anthropic launched the MCP protocol, providing interfaces for AI to access tools and contextual data. Building on MCP, Google further released the AP2 payment protocol, allowing AI agents to invoke services on-demand and complete automatic payments, compatible with both traditional systems and x402.
A critical enabler for these protocols is Ethereum's EIP-3009 extension. It allows users to authorize token transfers via signatures without paying gas fees, solving the problem of "AI wallets lacking ETH." Complementing this is the proposed ERC-8004, which establishes an on-chain identity and reputation system for AI agents, recording execution history and trust scores to help service providers assess reliability.
In summary, the x402 protocol layer is gradually building a "language + currency + trust" system tailored for AI, enabling transactions, collaboration, and payments without human intervention—the essential first step for the entire ecosystem to function.
2. Infrastructure Layer: Making Payment Requests Work
The x402 protocol defines the solution, but a full stack of infrastructure is what makes it operational—responsible for validating requests, completing payments, coordinating services, and bridging AI with the blockchain.
First is Cloudflare (@Cloudflare). As a global cloud platform, it co-founded the x402 Foundation with Coinbase and has integrated the protocol into its CDN nodes and developer tools. Beyond offering a global distribution network, Cloudflare supports a "use-first, pay-later" deferred payment mechanism, enabling AI agents to smoothly access resources and settle afterward.
Next is the x402 Facilitator—payment aggregators (comprising multiple projects)—that handle the entire on-chain process of "paying on behalf, settling, and broadcasting" for AI agents. Users or AIs only need to initiate an HTTP 402 request; the Facilitator then pays the gas, packages the transaction, and broadcasts it on-chain. Settlement uses the EIP-3009 standard, allowing one-time authorization for USDC deductions. The entire process requires no token holdings or manual signing by the AI, greatly simplifying on-chain interaction.
According to the data below, Coinbase (@coinbase) remains the largest Facilitator, processing over 1.35 million transactions across 80,000 buyers; PayAI (@PayAINetwork) ranks second, active on chains like Solana and Base, with $280,000 in cumulative transaction volume and user numbers even surpassing Coinbase. Others such as X402rs, Thirdweb (@thirdweb), and Open X402 (@openx402) are also competing for market share.
Source: https://www.x402scan.com/facilitators
Beyond Facilitators, "native settlement blockchains" specifically built for x402 have emerged. A representative project is Kite AI (@GoKiteAI), one of the first Layer1 blockchains to fully embed x402 payment primitives at the base layer, supported by institutions including Coinbase Ventures and PayPal Ventures. While not directly handling payment validation (not a Facilitator), it provides an execution and settlement environment for x402 transactions, enabling agents to initiate, receive, and reconcile on-chain payments through standardized authorization commands.
On the execution side, besides native chains like Kite AI designed for AI payments, Peaq (@peaq) in the DePIN space plays a key role. Peaq is a public chain focused on machine economies and natively supports the x402 protocol, enabling autonomous payments and settlements between devices and agents.
Questflow (@questflow) represents the collaboration layer, where developers can publish agent tasks, set prices, and directly settle on-chain via x402, already partnering with Virtuals and Gate.
Additionally, AurraCloud (@AurraCloud) and Meridian (@mrdn_finance) offer multi-chain settlement and custodial services for the x402 protocol.
In summary, the x402 infrastructure layer is being built around three core questions: how to send requests, how to securely collect payments, and how to rapidly deploy across different chains—determining whether the entire payment system can truly operate.
3. Application Layer: What Are the Real x402 Applications?
With the x402 protocol and infrastructure in place, the next question is whether the application layer is active. Currently, there are few live projects.
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Daydreams (@daydreamsagents): Building an LLM inference platform powered by x402 payments.
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Heurist Deep Research (@heurist_ai): A Web3-native AI research platform where users pay in USDC per query to automatically generate multi-page research reports.
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Gloria AI (@itsgloria_ai): Using x402 to enable pay-per-article news access.
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Snack Money API: A micropayment interface for platforms like X and Farcaster, focusing on small payments and tips around identity and social interactions.
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tip.md (@tipdotmd): Enables AI assistants to directly facilitate crypto tipping within chat interfaces, with USDC tips processed through the full MCP+x402 payment flow.
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Firecrawl (@firecrawl_dev): A web crawling and cleaning API that converts websites into LLM-ready data, charging per call via x402.
Overall, the x402 application layer is still in exploration. Functional platforms are just beginning and haven't achieved scale. The key will be who can deliver truly usable, payable, and reusable products.
4. Memes: High Price and Hype Volatility
As interest in x402 grows, the market has quickly seen a wave of native Meme projects jumping on the narrative, the most notable being PING issued on Base. On launch day, its market cap surged past tens of millions of dollars.
Besides PING, tokens like "PENG" and "x402" have emerged in the community. These meme coins currently don't form part of the core protocol but provide attention, hype, and early liquidity.
5. From Protocol to Reality: What Challenges Remain for x402?
Despite its appealing concept, x402 faces several practical hurdles before widespread adoption.
First, there's a lack of truly usable products. Most projects are still on testnets or proof-of-concept stages, with rough user experiences.
Second, the tech stack is complex and costly to integrate. x402 involves a new protocol combining payment integration, signed transfers, agent communication, and more—posing high barriers for developers.
Third, regulatory risks exist. The emphasis on "no-account, no-redirection payments," while efficient, bypasses KYC/AML requirements of traditional payment systems, potentially raising compliance concerns in certain regions.
Fourth, network effects haven't formed yet. Payment protocols rely on ecosystem synergy, but currently, few services and platforms support x402, so the ecosystem hasn't achieved self-sustainability.
In short, x402 is still far from "mass adoption," with multiple technical and practical barriers yet to overcome.
6. Participation Opportunities
From an investment perspective, long-term opportunities in x402 lie primarily in infrastructure and key platforms.
First, foundational chains and infrastructure. x402 heavily relies on Ethereum ecosystem standards like EIP-3009 and ERC-8004. Base is currently the primary deployment chain, with strong stablecoin integration and a developer-friendly environment, poised to incubate leading products. Solana also holds advantages in high-frequency payments, making it suitable for AI agent micropayments.
Second, native settlement blockchains like Kite AI, along with payment aggregators and service platforms such as PayAI, Meridian, and AurraCloud, which validate payments, cover gas fees, and connect APIs. Once they become universal gateways, their value could scale rapidly.
As for tokens, caution is advised. Current x402-related tokens are small-cap and highly volatile, with many meme coins still driven purely by narrative. Projects with actual payment use cases or platform utility deserve more attention.
7. KOL Perspectives
Amid divided market opinions, insights from top builders and KOLs on the x402 ecosystem are worth noting.
Haotian @tmel0211 points out that today's x402 hype is largely driven by meme speculation, while the real "main course"—technical implementation and ecosystem formation—has barely begun. Only after market filtering will quality projects emerge. He believes those treating x402 as a short-term play misunderstand the fundamental logic and timeline of the entire sector.
Laobai @Wuhuoqiu offers a historical view: micropayments aren't new. From early Bitcoin and Lightning Network to Nano, IOTA, and BSV, the crypto space has repeatedly attempted to push small transaction use cases—but none have scaled widely. The difference with x402 is that it has finally found a genuine user for micropayments: AI Agents, not human users.
Danny @agintender elevates the perspective further, highlighting x402's greater potential as payment infrastructure for the "machine economy." Whether for on-chain knowledge collaboration, API economies, or AI-driven DAO governance, all these M2M (machine-to-machine) transaction needs naturally require a frictionless, accountless, auto-executable payment layer.
Lanhu Notes @lanhubiji analyzes from an architectural standpoint, arguing that Facilitators—as critical components for payment validation and execution—are becoming one of the most central pieces of infrastructure in the space. Projects like PayAI, Coinbase, and Pieverse are already forming clear competitive dynamics.
Finally, Zhixiong Pan @nake13 raises a long-term question: Can agents truly "hold and spend funds"? This touches on core mechanisms like private key custody and permission management.
In summary, while x402 may currently experience fluctuations in hype, to long-term believers, it has only just entered its true construction phase.
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