Coinbase Launches x402 Batch Settlement to Advance AI Payments

Coinbase-backed x402 has added batch settlement, a feature designed to reduce the cost of high-frequency AI agent payments by allowing many small transactions to settle later in bulk.

Base creator Jesse Pollak said Wednesday that x402 now supports batched settlement, enabling very small payments below $0.0001 for on-demand resources such as compute and inference.

The feature lets buyers deposit ERC-20 funds into onchain escrow and sign offchain vouchers for each paid request. Sellers can verify those vouchers quickly, serve the request and later redeem many payments together in batched onchain transactions, according to x402’s documentation.

The development adds another layer to the emerging market for agent payments. It comes a week after Amazon Web Services (AWS) integrated Coinbase’s x402 payment protocol and wallet infrastructure to allow AI agents to make USDC (USDC) payments on Base and Solana without direct access to private keys.

Days earlier, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced cutting 14% of the company’s workforce to restructure around smaller AI-focused teams using more automation tools, Cointelegraph reported on May 5. 

Coinbase introduces x402 batch settlement. Source: x402.org

X402 is an open protocol based on the HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code to support machine-to-machine payments. Coinbase said the protocol processed over 169 million payments across 590,000 buyers and over 100,000 sellers in its first year.

Related: Polygon reduces block time to 1.75 seconds as payments push accelerates

Batch settlements enable gasless transactions for AI agents

Batch settlements look to allow sellers to offer agents a cheaper and faster experience where deposits, batched settlements and refunds are all sponsored by the transaction’s facilitator, said Coinbase Developer Platform product lead Joshua Nickerson, in a Wednesday X post.

AI agents using batch settlement will be able to accept any Ethereum-native ERC-20 tokens, not just stablecoins. The feature is currently available in TypeScript and Go, with a Python implementation coming soon.

In the documented flow, the buyer opens or tops up a channel by depositing ERC-20 tokens into escrow. Each paid request includes a signed cumulative voucher, and the seller’s channel manager later claims vouchers from many channels in a single transaction before sweeping funds to the receiver.

Source: Jnix

Crypto companies build agent rails

Other large cryptocurrency companies have also been building AI infrastructure.

On Monday, stablecoin issuer Circle launched a suite of tools enabling AI agents to use wallets, discover services and make programmable payments with USDC, Cointelegraph reported.

On Friday, Aptos Foundation and Aptos Labs committed $50 million to Aptos development, with a particular focus on AI agent infrastructure and research, including AI-powered onchain order book and perpetual exchange Decibel and decentralized storage protocol Shelby.

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now