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AI Agents Were Supposed to Power a New Economy on Blockchain —What Went Wrong

As blockchain know-how and synthetic intelligence proceed to converge, x402—a normal that allows AI brokers to execute automated on-chain funds—was anticipated to function a gateway to the rising Agent Economy.

However, current knowledge exhibits a sharp decline in x402 transaction quantity. This development has raised doubts about whether or not the preliminary hype light solely months after its fast rise.

x402 Transactions Down More Than 92%

According to a report from Artemis, the idea of x402 “agent payments” might at the moment be extra phantasm than actuality. While instruments corresponding to OpenClaw, Moltbook, and specialised agent wallets are spreading quickly throughout social media and developer communities, on-chain knowledge tells a very totally different story.

x402 Transactions by Chain. Source: Artemis.

In December 2025, x402 averaged roughly 731,000 transactions per day. By February 2026, every day transactions fell to round 57,000. This represents a decline of greater than 92% from the height.

Charts from Artemis clearly illustrate this drop throughout networks corresponding to Base, Polygon PoS, and Solana.

Lucas, an on-chain funds specialist at Artemis, supplied additional perception. By inspecting transaction declines by class, he recognized a sharp contraction within the “Infrastructure & Utilities” section as the first direct trigger.

x402 Transactions by Category. Source: Artemis.

Activity from providers corresponding to x402secure.com, agentlisa.ai, and pay.codenut.ai dropped by greater than 80% from earlier highs. These platforms function essential infrastructure bridges, enabling clean, dependable x402 funds for brokers. Meanwhile, demand has but to materialize.

“The greater takeaway is that these instruments, apps, and interfaces developed not too long ago present what’s potential and the place issues are heading. But the demand actually isn’t right here but,” Lucas said.

Despite the adverse knowledge, many analysts proceed to categorical optimism concerning the long-term way forward for an agent-based economic system.

Signals Pointing to a Future Agent Economy Boom

Looking additional forward, analysts envision a new financial system wherein AI brokers turn into unbiased financial entities. These brokers can be able to performing autonomously, making choices, transacting, and producing worth with out fixed human oversight.

Analyst Stacy Muur highlighted three key indicators supporting this imaginative and prescient:

  • The OpenClaw framework has surpassed 180,000 GitHub stars, indicating sturdy group curiosity. This is an open-source, autonomous AI assistant that may monitor wallets, automate airdrops, and take part in prediction markets.
  • Moltbook, the primary social community designed solely for AI brokers, has already attracted nearly 2.5 million agents.
  • ERC-8004, a new token normal designed for decentralized AI brokers, is prepared for deployment on the Ethereum mainnet, bringing this imaginative and prescient nearer to actuality.

From an funding perspective, nonetheless, tasks inside the x402 ecosystem listed on CoinGecko have but to exhibit notable worth efficiency. The sector’s whole market capitalization exceeds $6.7 billion, however Chainlink (LINK) alone accounts for greater than $6 billion. Most remaining tasks have market capitalizations beneath $100 million.

Broad market selling pressure and prevailing worry have induced traders to overlook the constructive fundamentals of the x402 and AI Agent ecosystem. Under extra favorable market sentiment, these elements might probably give rise to new billion-dollar crypto tasks.

The submit AI Agents Were Supposed to Power a New Economy on Blockchain —What Went Wrong appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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