TechFlow, December 23 — Recently, HTX Ventures, the global investment arm of Huobi HTX, released a new research report titled "Pulse in the Cold: How x402 and ERC-8004 Signal Web3's Next Technical Inflection Point." The report argues that with the rise of AI Agents and automated systems, machines are gradually becoming key users of the internet, a shift that will reshape Web3's payment, identity, and collaboration infrastructure.
HTX Ventures focuses on two key technological upgrades: x402 and ERC-8004. x402 introduces payments at the protocol layer, enabling machines to automatically settle transactions. ERC-8004 provides verifiable execution and reputation mechanisms for machine collaboration. HTX Ventures believes these two together form the minimal closed-loop infrastructure required for a machine economy and may signal a pivotal evolution in Web3's next phase.
