{"id":96079,"date":"2026-04-10T11:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=96079"},"modified":"2026-04-10T11:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:45:16","slug":"developers-of-x402-implement-usage-based-ai-computation-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/developers-of-x402-implement-usage-based-ai-computation-payments\/","title":{"rendered":"Developers of x402 Implement Usage-Based AI Computation Payments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coinbase has announced an update to the x402 protocol, replacing fixed fees with usage-based payments for AI agents&#8217; computational power.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Usage-based pricing is now live on x402!<\/p>\n<p>The new &#8220;Upto&#8221; scheme lets agents pay only for what they consume, unlocking variable-cost services like LLM inference, compute, and data queries on x402.<\/p>\n<p>Available now on the x402 SDK + CDP Facilitator. \u2193<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Coinbase Developer Platform\ud83d\udee1\ufe0f (@CoinbaseDev) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoinbaseDev\/status\/2042274082151072234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The new Upto mechanism will provide autonomous artificial intelligence with access to flexible pricing services, including work with <span data-descr=\"large language models\" class=\"old_tooltip\">LLM<\/span>, computations, and database queries.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Previously, x402 only supported fixed payments, which is suitable for deterministic <span data-descr=\"application programming interface\" class=\"old_tooltip\">API<\/span>, but blocks services where costs depend on the number of tokens, computation time, or query complexity,&#8221; the developers explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Upto operates on <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-the-ethereum-virtual-machine-evm\">EVM<\/a> networks and supports all <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-erc-20-tokens\">ERC-20<\/a> standard tokens. Meanwhile, the CDP Facilitator tool enables transactions without gas fees.<\/p>\n<p>The integration of the new solution comes as the tech sector prepares for the era of autonomous commerce. AI agents are expected to become the &#8220;fuel&#8221; for network activity growth, necessitating seamless and nearly instantaneous micropayments.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Abandoning Fixed Fees<\/h2>\n<p>The Upto scheme allows providers to set maximum rates, while users approve spending within a set limit.<\/p>\n<p>The system charges only for the actual computational costs of completing a task. This protects against overpayments: if a request is simple, the final amount will be lower than the set maximum.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, the cost of light and resource-intensive tasks did not differ. Now users can allocate an exact budget to an AI agent in advance, rather than guessing potential expenses.<\/p>\n<p>The x402 protocol was initially created by Coinbase, but in early April, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linuxfoundation.org\/press\/linux-foundation-is-launching-the-x402-foundation-and-welcoming-the-contribution-of-the-x402-protocol\">transitioned<\/a> to the management of the non-profit Linux Foundation. Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services are also involved in the project&#8217;s development through the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/coinbase\/status\/2039689438922522728\">x402 Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite interest in the project, Dune Analytics reports a decline in on-chain activity in 2026.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/img-3d05a9b3e90dee4d-1411473101847476.webp\" alt=\"x402_weekly\" class=\"wp-image-278279\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Weekly x402 transaction volume dynamics. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/dune.com\/queries\/5236154\/8606551\">Dune<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The peak occurred from November 4 to 10 last year, reaching a record 13.7 million transactions. Subsequently, figures began to decline rapidly: in early January 2026, the weekly transaction volume fell below 1 million and continued to decrease throughout the first quarter. In the last week of March, only 112,708 transfers were processed through x402.<\/p>\n<p>Back in December last year, the second version of the x402 protocol was released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coinbase has announced an update to the x402 protocol, replacing fixed fees with usage-based payments for AI agents&#8217; computational power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Coinbase updates x402 protocol to usage-based payments for AI computations.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1751,2382],"class_list":["post-96079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-ai-agents","tag-x402"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"8","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Coinbase updates x402 protocol to usage-based payments for AI computations.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96081,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96079\/revisions\/96081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}