Card Giants Back x402 as 75 Million AI Payments Settle Just $24M in a Month
The Linux Foundation launched the x402 Foundation on 14 July 2026, with 40 companies including Visa, Mastercard and Ripple governing the open payment protocol. The standard lets AI agents pay each other directly in stablecoins over the web.
Linux Foundation launches x402 with 40 members
The Linux Foundation announced the operational launch of the x402 Foundation on 14 July 2026. Forty companies now govern the open protocol, which lets software send and receive payments directly over the web. Coinbase first built the standard and contributed it to open governance. The membership has grown to 40 organisations since the group signalled its plans in April. The new body will steward the protocol and guide its technical direction across the industry.
Visa, Mastercard and Ripple join as premier members
Visa, Mastercard and Ripple joined the foundation as premier members. They sit alongside American Express, Stripe, Google, Amazon Web Services, Circle, Cloudflare and Shopify. The Solana Foundation and the Stellar Development Foundation also hold premier seats. Coinbase, MoonPay and Fiserv also count among the premier tier. The line-up brings together card networks, banks, cloud providers and blockchain groups behind a single standard.
"Open standards like x402 help lay the foundation for trusted, interoperable machine-to-machine payments.", 14 July 2026. — Markus Infanger, Senior Vice President of RippleX, Ripple
x402 activates a dormant web payment code
The x402 protocol activates the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" response code, reserved but unused for three decades. It lets AI agents pay each other directly in stablecoins, typically USD Coin (USDC). The transfers need no bank accounts, credit checks or prior relationships between the parties. Developers can attach a price to any web request, so a server can ask a client to pay before it responds. Coinbase released the protocol in May 2025 before handing it to the Linux Foundation this year.
Machine payments settled $24 million in 30 days
x402 processed about 75 million transactions over the past 30 days, according to CoinDesk. Those payments settled roughly $24 million in total value, averaging 32 cents each. The figures point to high-volume, low-value machine commerce rather than large transfers. About 94,000 buyer accounts and 22,000 seller accounts used the network, according to CoinDesk. For comparison, CoinDesk reported that Visa handled $14.2 trillion in its 2025 fiscal year, or about $40 billion a day.
Payment firms back a shared machine-payment standard
Payment companies are backing x402 to shape how autonomous software will transact. The standard aims to give AI agents a common way to pay across networks and currencies. Supporters expect machine-to-machine commerce to grow as agents take on more routine tasks. Mastercard is connecting the standard to its Agent Pay service for machines. The group wants one open standard rather than competing, closed payment systems.
"Commerce will not run on a single agent, protocol, or payment method. The future will be built on interoperability.", 14 July 2026. — Rubail Birwadker, Senior Vice President, Head of Growth Products and Partnerships, Visa
XRP price at time of publication
Ripple supports x402 on the XRP Ledger, using XRP and its RLUSD stablecoin. XRP traded at $1.11 at the time of publication, up 3.5% over the past 24 hours (CoinPaprika, 15 July 2026). Its market value stood near $69 billion, ranking it among the largest crypto assets.
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