Base’s 12-month x402 tally counts transaction events, not the people or agents behind them, even as the network recorded more than 138 million such payments in the year ending July 1, 2026.
The recorded uses ranged from AI inference and code reviews to financial research, search and data services, tools for agents, payment infrastructure, games, token creation and gambling. That mix spans information services and other online activity, so the total is broader than AI use alone. The figures do not assign a transaction share to each category.
Coinbase introduced x402 in May 2025. A server can use HTTP’s 402 Payment Required status to request payment before providing an API resource. The client can send payment authorization for a facilitator to verify and settle onchain. The server can then provide the resource. This setup handles payment within a web request and can serve software clients beyond AI agents.
A separate payment-size sample covered 16 months and ended in September 2026. More than 87% of its transactions fell between $0.0001 and $0.10, with $0.01 to $0.10 accounting for the largest share. Because this sample extends beyond July 1, its payment-size pattern does not describe the same 12-month window as the Base tally.
One transaction is not a proxy for one customer or agent. The total also does not reveal whether each payment led to a useful outcome. Transaction volume shows how often the protocol registered activity, but cannot by itself establish the breadth of adoption or the quality of services.
Will Su, who heads digital assets research at BlackRock, said the firm was tracking commerce involving AI agents, which could create demand for “frequent, low-value payments.”
