Coinbase’s x402 protocol is turning the forgotten HTTP “Payment Required” code into a real-world micropayment engine. And now Coingecko has rolled out a full-fledged category to accommodate the growing swarm of tokens built around it.
What is x402?
x402 is an open source HTTP native payment protocol developed by Coinbase that brings back the long-defunct HTTP 402 status code. In layman’s terms, it allows websites, APIs, and even artificial intelligence (AI) agents to request payments directly through web requests.
Instead of an API key or monthly subscription, users send instant micropayments (often USDC) directly through their browser. Transactions complete in about 2 seconds and there are no protocol fees or intermediaries involved.
Backed by the x402 Foundation, which Coinbase and Cloudflare co-founded in October 2025, the system is already connected to networks such as Google, Visa, AWS, Circle, and Anthropic. It is chain agnostic and operates across Base, Solana, Polygon, and SEI, playing a key role in the rise of machine-to-machine (M2M) payments known as the “agency economy.”
Coingecko’s new x402 token category
On October 25, 2025, Coingecko officially added a new token category titled x402, allowing users to track all related coins in one place. According to Coingecko statistics, the market capitalization of the 10 listed tokens in this category is currently $178.3 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $107.6 million.
Although x402 itself does not issue tokens, a small number of crypto projects have built their own projects around the protocol, each designed to facilitate payments, agent coordination, analytics, or AI integration.
What do x402 tokens actually do?
These coins serve as utility or governance tokens associated with projects built on the x402 framework. Most of it is used for paying, monitoring, and orchestrating AI agents.
For example, PING, created by Ping Observer, was the first token minted directly via x402, powering payments for AI agent monitoring. Heurist AI’s HEU allows users to pay per data query in USDC while providing staking rewards. SANTA in Virtuals facilitates a network of AI “elves” that perform cross-chain tasks and airdrops.
Meridian Finance’s MRDN brings x402 micropayments to decentralized finance (DeFi), and AURA powers Telegram and Discord bots for on-chain payments. Gloria is >
broader trends
The x402 token blends AI and blockchain utilities with real payment infrastructure. The concept is simple. AI agents autonomously communicate with each other and conduct transactions using USDC. Some projects are experimental, others are working, but they all ride on the same emerging trend: web-native, frictionless payments without intermediaries.
Binance and OKX wallets are currently cataloging x402 tokens for discovery, while Coinbase is reportedly taking on some transaction fees to encourage adoption.
market snapshot
With a market capitalization of $178 million and a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $108 million, the x402 token is quickly becoming the new hot topic among crypto, DeFi, and AI enthusiasts. Although much is speculative, the underlying payment protocols already power real-world use cases.
outlook
Whether x402 becomes a universal payments layer for autonomous agents or just the latest crypto experiment, there is no doubt that it is giving the web a new financial backbone, one HTTP request at a time.
Frequently asked questions 🤖
- What is x402?x402 is an open source payment protocol by Coinbase that turns old HTTP 402 code into a real micropayment system for web and AI applications.
- What is x402 token?These are utility and governance tokens from projects that use the x402 protocol for payments, monitoring, and coordinating AI agents.
- How big is the x402 market?Coingecko reports a market capitalization of 10 listed tokens of $178.3 million and a daily trading volume of $107.6 million. There are probably more.
- Who supports x402?The x402 Foundation was co-founded by Coinbase and Cloudflare and integrates Google, Visa, Circle, and AWS.
