In October 2025, the market was once again swept by a wave of AI agents, but this time with a new banner: the x402 token. What is this standard anyway? And should investors jump into the trend, or is this just another bubble that’s about to burst?
In this article, we break down what’s behind the hype, what opportunities and risks x402 brings, and what market participants are saying based on fresh data and discussions on X.
Why the x402 Token Suddenly Became a Magnet for Capital
x402 is not just another token. It’s an open payment protocol for AI agents and APIs that allows automating transactions without accounts, registration, or API keys.
The name refers to the HTTP 402 response code — “Payment Required”, a long-forgotten standard that’s now reimagined as a way to turn any web request into instant payments, for example in USDC.
The boom didn’t come out of nowhere. In September, Coinbase and Cloudflare launched the x402 Foundation to promote protocol integration into key infrastructure tools: Agents SDK and Model Context Protocol (MCP).
With these solutions, AI agents can not only make micropayments, down to less than a cent, but also defer payments, resolve disputes, and combine bills, for example when parsing data.
See also: MetaMask is preparing an airdrop — a mysterious site is fueling rumors about the MASK token
And in October, interest intensified after venture giant a16z reminded everyone of Gartner‘s forecast: by 2030, AI buyers will influence deals worth $30 trillion. Against this backdrop, x402, AI agents, and the partnership between Coinbase and Cloudflare were named as key elements of the upcoming transition to a “machine economy”.
According to a16z, protocols like x402 could become the financial foundation for autonomous AI agents, helping them make micropayments, connect to APIs and settle directly, without intermediaries. And the economy based on such interactions, according to Gartner, could reach $30 trillion by 2030.
These statements spurred demand for the entire x402 sector. According to x402scan, since the launch by Coinbase in May, the ecosystem has already recorded:
- 1.38 million transactions
- $1.48 million volume
- over 72,500 buyers
- about 1,000 sellers
Global statistics for the x402 ecosystem. Source: x402scan
Investor interest also surged. The x402 category on CoinGecko reached nearly $800 million market capitalization after a 350% jump in a day, and daily trading volume exceeded $230 million.
Top tokens of the x402 ecosystem. Source: CoinGecko
Among the leaders by trading volume are EigenCloud, Ping and PayAI Network.
“If x402 really takes off, it will completely change the business model of the internet,” says investor Ryan Adams.
What Analysts Say About the Future of x402 Tokens
Discussions around x402 on X continue, and opinions are divided. While most lean toward long-term potential, there is no consensus yet.
Supporters believe that the strength of x402 lies in simplifying and standardizing payment infrastructure for AI agents. Classic payment solutions are slow, vulnerable to chargebacks, and require manual intervention. x402 uses cryptocurrency to provide instant and reliable settlements between AI and API services, without human involvement.
Others point out that the current capitalization of x402 tokens remains extremely low.
“Here are the current x402 tokens on CoinGecko. The largest one has just over $50 million. Most are below $10 million. The potential here is just insane,” said investor Otto Swen.
Despite all the optimism, the risks of x402 tokens are seriously underestimated. According to Jarrod Watts from the Abstract project, all tokens in this category are conditionally divided into three types:
- API tokens, where payment is possible only in their own currency
- Functional tokens used to pay for real services
- Speculative coins with no real utility
Watts warns: part of the community may start artificially pumping non-working tokens to quickly profit from the hype.
“I’m sure in the coming weeks there will be a new wave of AI tokens created just for the hype. And, as usual, they’ll be absolutely useless. But as they say, do you want to be right or rich?” he jokes.
Analyst 0xJeff called such tokens x402-memecoins and added: only those projects that already have real or nearly ready-to-launch products will survive.
See also: OceanPal raised $120 million to create a treasury in NEAR tokens
What is truly alarming is that the x402 protocol itself is still new and hasn’t stood the test of time. Back in April, analysts reported a serious vulnerability in the Crypto-MCP architecture (which x402 is based on). The bug allowed intercepting seed phrases or redirecting transactions using AI models, without the user’s knowledge.
