Coinbase, Cloudflare and Stripe are forming a non-profit foundation under the Linux Foundation to govern x402, an open-source protocol designed for instant machine-to-machine payments, Bloomberg reported.
Coinbase, Stripe, Cloudflare Form Foundation to Govern x402 AI Payments Protocol: Bloomberg
2 April 2026 - 20:05 CEST
By Ana Pereira
The initiative, which will include at least 20 member companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon Web Services, aims to establish x402 as a standard for autonomous AI agents to make seamless micropayments using stablecoins.
x402 revives the long-dormant HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code, allowing software agents to pay directly for APIs, data or services without human intervention or traditional card rails. It has processed roughly 97mn transactions on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, though daily volume remains modest at about 54,900 transactions, according to the Bloomberg report.
Stripe, hedging its bets, has teamed up crypto venture firm Paradigm and launched a rival standard, the Machine Payments Protocol, targeting the same use case of AI agents making frequent micropayments, Bloomberg reported.
The competition centres on which protocol can attract more developers and enterprise adoption, as autonomous agents are expected to drive increasing volumes of machine-to-machine commerce.
