Agentic payment activity tops 100M transactions on Base
Agentic payments on Coinbase’s Base network have topped 100 million transactions, suggesting machine-to-machine payments are becoming practical in onchain systems. Chainalysis said wallets using Coinbase’s x402 protocol generated this volume in about nine months. x402 lets software agents pay for resources like APIs or data feeds directly through web requests, automatically settling stablecoin payments without human approval. Early growth was boosted by the PING memecoin experiment, which forced users to pay via x402 to mint tokens and drove a transaction spike. Activity later cooled but remained steady, with transfer value rising. By early 2026, transactions over $1 represented about 95% of value transferred, up from roughly 49% in early 2025, indicating a shift beyond micropayments. The data supports growing interest in AI-agent payments, with crypto networks seen as well suited for 24/7 automated settlement. Industry leaders and analysts expect stablecoins and protocols like x402 to play a larger role in this trend.
