Coinbase x402 Processes 14M AI-Agent Payments in 30 Days

Coinbase’s x402 processed about 14 million AI-agent transfers over the past 30 days. Base handled roughly 7.3 million transactions, Polygon processed about 5.6 million, and smaller volumes moved on other networks. Together Base and Polygon accounted for about 12.9 million transfers. USDC served as the settlement asset for nearly all recorded transfers during the period.

x402 is an open standard developed by Coinbase that uses the web’s HTTP 402 “Payment Required” mechanism to let software request and complete payments automatically. Coinbase has deployed x402 across multiple blockchains, including Base, Solana and Polygon, and supports USDC as a settlement currency for the protocol.

In July, Coinbase expanded its merchant services to allow businesses to accept USDC payments directly from AI agents through Coinbase Business. Merchants using that service can receive, reconcile and cash out agent-initiated payments through the same Coinbase accounts they use for other services.

The transfer count does not necessarily reflect 14 million distinct autonomous programs. A single AI agent can generate many transfers when it makes frequent purchases such as compute time, data access or API calls.

USDC is a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Circle and served as the monetary unit for almost all x402 transfers in the 30-day window. Base and Polygon were the primary rails handling those payments during the period.

Stablecoins like USDC are designed to move dollar-denominated value across blockchains. Autonomous software agents can execute payments at high frequency and in varying amounts. x402 automates the request-and-pay flow so software can settle purchases without human intervention, enabling software to pay for services in real time.