Coinbase-Backed x402 V2 Enhances AI-Native Payments across Base, Solana, and Card Systems

Coinbase-backed x402 V2 introduces enhanced multi-chain routing, wallet sessions, and discovery features, allowing AI agents and web services to seamlessly process HTTP 402 payments through both cryptocurrency and traditional payment systems.

Key Takeaways

Multi-Chain Support: x402 V2 supports transactions across multiple blockchains such as Base and Solana, and traditional payment systems like ACH and card networks.
Wallet-Based Sessions: New wallet sessions allow users to access resources repeatedly without restarting payment flows.
Improved Developer Flexibility: The protocol enables the addition of new assets and payment schemes without changing its underlying architecture.
AI Service Discovery: A new Discovery extension helps AI agents find and initiate payments for services efficiently.
Extensive Adoption: The protocol has processed over 100 million API payments since its launch, demonstrating significant industry adoption.

x402 V2 multi-chain HTTP 402 payments for AI agents and APIs.

The x402 payments protocol, developed by Coinbase to facilitate autonomous machine-to-machine transactions, launched its V2 upgrade on December 11, 2025. This update enhances features for processing payments across various platforms.

Main Content

The x402 payments protocol, incubated by Coinbase for autonomous machine-to-machine transactions, announced the release of its version 2 upgrade on December 11, 2025. This upgrade follows the protocol's successful initial deployment six months ago.

Since its inception, the x402 protocol has successfully processed over 100 million payments across different APIs, AI agents, and web services, according to the company's report on the V2 release. The new version integrates valuable enhancements derived from this initial phase.

One of the key features of the V2 upgrade is the standardization of network and asset identification, allowing for a unified payment format to function across various blockchains, including Base and Solana, as well as conventional payment systems such as ACH and card networks. This design positions x402 as a comprehensive payment layer that integrates both cryptocurrency and legacy financial infrastructures.

With V2, the introduction of wallet-based sessions means that users can enjoy subscription-like access and reuse purchased resources without having to reset the payment flows. This feature is particularly aimed at reducing overhead for frequent tasks, such as using large language model inferences, automated API calls, and operations by autonomous agents. Sessions are linked to ownership of wallets as opposed to relying on API keys.

The update also sets a clear distinction between clients, servers, and facilitators, allowing developers to incorporate new blockchains, assets, and payment methods as stand-alone modules without needing to alter the protocol’s core structure.

Moreover, the new Discovery extension allows services enabled by x402 to reveal metadata that facilitators can explore and index. This advancement enables AI agents to automatically find services, comprehend pricing, and commence payments more effectively.

Upon feedback from early users who implemented x402 in real-world settings, the foundation has rewritten reference software development kits using a plug-in architecture.

The x402 protocol employs the HTTP 402: Payment Required status code as its payment mechanism. Typically, transactions are settled using stablecoins on Layer 2 networks such as Base.

Founded in September 2025, the x402 Foundation comprises members such as Cloudflare, Google, and Visa, who are committed to developing the protocol as an open standard.