Coinbase, Cloudflare, and Stripe on April 2 announced the formation of the x402 Foundation, a nonprofit organization that will manage the x402 payment protocol as an open internet standard, bringing together 23 founding companies including Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Shopify, and the Solana Foundation.
The x402 Foundation will operate under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, the same organization that runs the operating system that bears its name.
The goal of the x402 Foundation is to support any application, service, or software agent. Send and receive payments automatically onlineIn the same way that data and emails are exchanged today, without registration, subscription or human intervention.
According to the statement, the new organization will ensure: No company owns the protocol x402 And we aim for any developer, startup, or enterprise to be able to build on top of it without relying on a centralized provider.
Previously, x402 was a Coinbase proposal launched in May 2025, as reported by CriptoNoticias. With the establishment of the Foundation, the Protocol is no longer a corporate project; Neutral governance and institutional support A group of world-leading payments and digital infrastructure players.
According to the announcement, the x420 Foundation is recruiting new members, allowing developers, startups, and global companies to join to contribute to the development of the protocol.
What is the x402 protocol for?
x402 operates under what is known as HTTP code 402. ≪Payment required≫ (Paid) It has been around since the origins of web protocols, but there was no standardized implementation. x402 activates it and turn it into a payment channel Works across applications.
According to the white paper, x402 “enables artificial intelligence agents and web services to autonomously pay for access to APIs, data, and digital services.”
This eliminates the need for access keys, subscriptions, or manual payment processes. From a practical point of view, You can enable payments in any app With just one line of code to run on a per-use basis, the system is primarily designed to work with stablecoins such as USDC, ensuring instant liquidity and a stable price pegged to the dollar.
The core use cases are: artificial intelligence agent: A program that operates autonomously on behalf of users and requires them to pay for services without someone approving each transaction. In x402, the agent receives, pays, and agrees to the price. Everything is done in seconds, without the need for forms or intermediaries.
The establishment of the x402 Foundation transforms Coinbase’s proposition into a global, institutionally supported project. The protocol now has neutral governance, a coalition of members ranging from large technology companies to traditional payment networks, and a proven standards infrastructure behind it.
What remains to be demonstrated is whether this collaboration will lead to real adoption, how many services will implement x402, when and which payment rails they will use.
(Tag translation) Amazon
