Summary: x402, the next-generation payment protocol that is redefining value flow in the decentralized web. Learn about the origins of x402 and its profound impact on the DeFi and payment industries. Participate in the WEEX x402 Ecosystem Week event before November 4, 2025, to win rewards of up to $115!

For decades, the internet has relied on the fundamental system of HTTP status codes to support digital interactions. However, one status code, "HTTP 402: Payment Required," has never been truly activated since its inception. Today, Coinbase has revitalized it through the open payment protocol x402, which embeds on-chain payments directly into the HTTP layer.

What is x402?

x402 is an open, internet-native payment protocol that leverages the long-unused HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code to embed programmable on-chain payments directly into standard HTTP request interactions.

It allows clients—especially autonomous AI agents or machine-to-machine callers—to automatically discover prices, submit encrypted payment credentials in the request header (X-PAYMENT header), and obtain paid resources within the same request/response flow.

The protocol is blockchain-agnostic but commonly uses stablecoins (such as USDC) and hosted "Facilitator" services to verify and settle payments on behalf of sellers.

This means machines can autonomously pay for data, computation, or model usage just like accessing a webpage. By extending payment functionality to the most fundamental internet protocols, x402 effectively turns the internet into a programmable economy.

x402 was developed and open-sourced by Coinbase to address the practical need for "pay-per-use" in machine usage of APIs, models, and data. Coinbase has released related documentation and reference implementations on GitHub and its developer platform, and is promoting adoption with ecosystem partners. By the end of 2025, Coinbase and Cloudflare announced the establishment of the x402 Foundation to coordinate standards, tools, and drive broader industry adoption.

The Impact of x402 on the Industry

x402 is to payments what HTTPS is to data: a simple yet foundational upgrade.

It unlocks true machine-to-machine (M2M) commerce, enabling every API call, data access, or model inference to be fairly and automatically monetized.

• For businesses: Pay-per-use (micropayments) and API usage billing models can operate at scale.
• For developers: No need for complex billing infrastructure.
• For AI: It is the missing link—enabling autonomous agents not only to process information but also to pay for it.

This transformation could reshape multiple industries: data providers can charge per request, AI models can offer tiered pricing based on accuracy, and web services can enable temporary access through token mechanisms without human intervention. As more systems adopt x402, the boundary between information and value will blur—a "self-paying internet" is taking shape.

x402 addresses a real pain point: machines (AI agents, IoT devices, serverless functions) cannot easily use human-centric payment methods (such as credit cards, OAuth subscriptions, or invoices). By making payment a first-class primitive in HTTP, x402 enables new business and technical models:

• Micropayments and Pay-per-Call:

Services can charge precisely based on usage (e.g., per inference, data query, document access) without subscription overhead.

• Autonomous Commerce and Composability (Agentic Commerce & Composability):

Autonomous agents can independently discover, compare, and pay for third-party plugins or APIs, enabling richer agent functionality and multi-agent markets (Google's AP2/Agent Payments has explored interoperability with x402).

• Lowering Entry Barriers:

No need to register accounts, bind bank cards, or go through cumbersome billing processes, making it more suitable for pay-as-you-go scenarios and accelerating developer conversion.

• Operability and Trust Model:

Facilitators (including Coinbase's hosted services) can simplify settlement and compliance processes (such as KYT, OFAC screening), but this also introduces a "trusted service" model, requiring teams to weigh this against self-built solutions.

Future Vision of x402

Imagine an internet where the economic layer is as frictionless as the data layer: AI agents can instantly call paid knowledge bases, compute markets price inference based on latency and accuracy, and micro-sensors pay for edge computing on demand.

In such a world:

• Microservice markets thrive (discovery + instant settlement)
• Models can be rented by the second or by token
• Value flow becomes composable (Agent A pays Model B, Model B pays Data Source C),

All of this is coordinated through standard HTTP semantics.

x402 is a practical step toward this future: it does not create new consensus mechanisms or tokens but simply provides the internet with a standardized, machine-readable format to express "this resource costs X" and receive final on-chain payment credentials.

If widely adopted, x402 will redefine how digital goods and computing power are priced and consumed.

New User Exclusive: x402 Ecosystem Week

To celebrate the rise of this new payment paradigm, WEEX, one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, officially launches x402 Ecosystem Week—a limited-time event designed specifically for new users to enter the future of on-chain payments.

Event Period: October 24, 2025, to November 4, 2025 (UTC+8)

New users can complete a series of simple tasks to win rewards of up to $115 USDT:

• Activity 1: Net deposit of 100 USDT, reward 8 USDT

During the event, new users with a net deposit of ≥100 USDT or equivalent in any event token (SANTA, AURABASE, PAYAI, MRDN) will receive an 8 USDT reward.

• Activity 2: Complete first spot trade, reward 7 USDT

During the event, new users making their first trade in any event token (SANTA, AURABASE, PAYAI, MRDN) with a spot trading volume of 100 USDT will receive a 7 USDT reward.

• Activity 3: Daily trading check-in, easily claim 100 USDT

During the event, with no restrictions on trading tokens, new users with a daily cumulative contract trading volume of ≥500 USDT will be considered as a successful check-in. Successful check-in users will receive 1 blind box (5~10 USDT contract experience funds), with a maximum of one check-in per day. The maximum individual reward during the event is 100 USDT, and rewards will be distributed uniformly after the event ends.

• Activity 4: Reward Claim Conditions

During the event, users must complete Activity 1, Activity 2, and Activity 3 in order to unlock all corresponding rewards!