Coinbase has announced an upgrade to its x402 protocol. This enables usage-based pricing for agent AI compute requests, replacing the previous flat-rate pricing model.
In a post to X on Thursday, Coinbase Developer Platform announced that the “Upto” scheme is now live, adding that it will help unlock “variable cost services” for agent AI such as large-scale language model inference, computing, and data queries.
“Until now, x402 only supported precise fixed-price payments, which was great for deterministic APIs, but ended up blocking an entire category of services whose cost depended on usage, such as number of tokens, computation time, or query complexity,” Coinbase Developer Platform said.
“Upto is an EVM implementation and supports all ERC20, and the CDP Facilitator supports fully gasless payments,” it added.
The move comes as support for the x402 protocol expands as a wide range of companies prepare for future agent tick commerce adoption, which is expected to create extreme network demands and require smooth payments and near-instantaneous transactions to support agent AI.
Flat rate issue fixed
The Upto scheme allows sellers to set a maximum price and buyers to approve prices up to a certain amount.
On the server side, where costs are variable, the server only charges what it actually costs to complete the task. This means users will not be overcharged and may even pay less than the specified maximum price.
Previously, simple and complex requests cost the same amount, leading some users to overpay or underpay for tasks performed by AI agents. This upgrade allows users to set the price they are willing to pay up front for a task, rather than guessing how much agents think it will cost to complete the task.
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Ownership of the Coinbase-developed protocol was transferred to the nonprofit Linux Foundation earlier this month, and major tech companies including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services have invested in the protocol through the x402 Foundation.
Data from Dune Analytics shows that despite the hype surrounding x402, the network’s adoption rate peaked in November before declining in 2026. From November 4th to November 10th, the protocol saw 13.7 million transactions, its largest week ever.
However, the decline has been sharp since then, with weekly trading volume falling below 1 million in early January, and the decline continued into the first quarter. As of the last week of March, x402 had just 112,708 transactions.
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