Nine months. That’s all it took for Coinbase’s x402 protocol to cross the 100 million transaction mark on Base, according to a new report from Chainalysis. For a protocol that essentially repurposes a dusty, never-implemented internet standard to let AI agents pay for things autonomously, that’s a trajectory worth paying attention to.
The x402 protocol, launched in May 2025, uses USDC as its primary settlement currency and enables machine-to-machine payments without traditional payment accounts or intermediaries.
From zero to 100 million in under a year
Activity on wallets interacting with x402 went from essentially nothing in mid-2025 to more than 100 million transactions by the first quarter of 2026. Late 2025 saw a transaction surge of over 10,000% as the protocol gained traction among developers and AI-focused applications.
Recent data from x402.org paints an even more granular picture. Over the most recent 30-day period, the protocol recorded 72.41 million transactions and $24.24 million in volume.
