Coinbase’s x402 AI Payments Protocol Sees 10,000% Surge in Activity

Coinbase’s experimental x402 funds protocol, designed to let AI brokers and people pay straight in stablecoins over the web, has exploded in exercise.

According to data from Dune Analytics, the funds protocol has surged greater than 10,000% in transactions over the previous month.

Coinbase’s x402 Revives HTTP 402 to Enable Instant On-Chain Payments

Originally launched in May, x402 reimagines the long-unused HTTP 402 standing code, “Payment Required,” as a local web fee layer.

It permits computerized, real-time transactions with out bank cards or intermediaries.

Users, or AI brokers, can request a service, obtain a 402 fee immediate, and ship a signed stablecoin fee, which the system verifies on-chain.

From Oct. 14 to twenty, the protocol processed almost 500,000 transactions, a ten,780% enhance from the earlier month.

Activity peaked on Friday with 239,505 transactions recorded, whereas Thursday noticed a report $332,000 in transaction quantity.

The sudden spike comes amid rising consideration to “agentic AI,” autonomous synthetic intelligence techniques able to managing funds and sources, highlighted this week in a16z Crypto’s 2025 State of Crypto report.

The agency projected that such brokers might energy as much as $30 trillion in autonomous transactions by 2030.

x402 rising like loopy

hyperlink in thread https://t.co/xAghleCzJq

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 24, 2025

Coinbase builders Kevin Leffew and Lincoln Murr defined in August that x402 might allow a brand new monetary layer for digital brokers, permitting them to pay for compute, storage, and even transportation with out human intervention.

“They want atomic funds, programmable insurance policies, and composable wallets,” they wrote. “Ethereum and stablecoins give them precisely that.”

Developers have additionally begun utilizing x402’s framework to launch new tokens, sparking a wave of x402-powered memecoin initiatives, based on KuCoin Ventures.

The pattern was sturdy sufficient for CoinGecko so as to add “x402 tokens” as a separate class, which has since swelled right into a $180 million market, up 266% in simply 24 hours.

Coinbase’s new protocol underscores a bigger shift towards integrating AI and on-chain finance, the place machines can autonomously deal with funds and information with out third events.

If adoption continues at its present tempo, x402 might turn out to be the primary working bridge between AI techniques and blockchain-based financial exercise, a key step towards what Coinbase as soon as referred to as “fixing the web’s first mistake.”

Coinbase Faces Scrutiny After AI Coding Tool Vulnerability Exposes Security Risks

Last month, an exploit in Cursor, the AI-powered coding assistant reportedly utilized by all Coinbase engineers, sparked widespread concern in each the crypto and cybersecurity communities.

The flaw, dubbed the “CopyPasta License Attack,” was revealed by cybersecurity agency HiddenLayer and permits hackers to insert hidden markdown directions that unfold malware by developer information equivalent to README.md and LICENSE.txt.

Once triggered, the assault can compromise complete codebases with minimal consumer motion.

HiddenLayer demonstrated how the vulnerability might silently inject malicious code able to stealing information, creating backdoors, or altering vital techniques.

The agency stated comparable dangers exist in different AI coding instruments like Windsurf, Kiro, and Aider. The disclosure got here shortly after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong introduced that AI now writes as much as 40% of the corporate’s code, with plans to boost that determine to 50%.

Critics, together with builders and teachers, warned that Coinbase’s speedy AI rollout might endanger consumer belongings and core infrastructure.

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