TLDR Tech / Crypto
x402 Foundation Launches for Open Web Payments
Coinbase, Cloudflare, and Stripe have co-initiated the x402 Foundation under the Linux Foundation, establishing x402 as a neutral, community-governed open protocol that embeds payments natively into web interactions. The protocol is designed to enable AI agents, APIs, and applications to transact value autonomously without requiring manual human authorization, addressing a critical infrastructure gap as agentic AI use cases accelerate. x402 supports both fiat and crypto payment rails across multiple blockchains and networks, with no single entity controlling the standard. The foundation launched with 23 founding members spanning TradFi incumbents (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Adyen, and Fiserv), Big Tech (AWS, Google, and Microsoft), commerce platforms (Shopify and Stripe), and crypto-native organizations (Base, Circle, Polygon, Solana Foundation, and Thirdweb).
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