AI payments
When AI becomes a customer.
Software agents already buy compute and data. x402 gives them a way to pay for it: the response carries a price, the agent settles it, and the information is released.
How one agent buys data from another
Simulation, no real paymentAgent A
Buys information
Service B
Sells information
Press run to follow a single data purchase from request to delivered data.
Transaction receipt
- Amount
- Not priced yet
- Method
- x402
- Status
- Not paid
Data received
Locked until the payment settles.
An illustration of the x402 exchange. No wallet is connected and no funds move.
01
The agent asks for data
An automated agent needs a live feed: prices, liquidity, an on-chain signal. No person is there to complete a purchase.
02
The request returns a price
The server answers with HTTP 402 and a payment instruction instead of a refusal. The request is priced, not blocked.
03
The agent settles it
Payment settles on a supported network, usually in stablecoins, within limits a person defined in advance.
04
The data is released
The resource is returned once payment is confirmed. The whole exchange fits inside one machine-to-machine call.
Stablecoin settlement depends on supported networks, custody arrangements and operational requirements. None of this replaces an ordinary commercial agreement.
The token model
A proposed link between usage and revenue.
If the project ever adopts a token such as BNT, one possible design routes a defined share of eligible revenue into buying and burning it, under rules a smart contract executes. It is a design option, shown here for examination.
Buy and burn, stage by stage
Illustrative modelAllocation for buy and burn
$72,000
$600,000 × 12% = $72,000
Revenue
$600,000
Allocation
12%
Purchase
84,706 units
Contract
@ $0.85
Burn
1,000,000 → 915,294
Illustrative supply
unchanged
Ready
Set the two inputs, then run the model to watch the allocation move from revenue to burned supply.
A proposed business design, not a feature of x402. It implies no price appreciation, guarantees no return and needs legal and regulatory review before use.