Coinbase Expands x402 to Let AI Agents Pay Using Any ERC-20 Token

Coinbase x402:- At a time when most crypto firms are racing to integrate AI into their products, Coinbase has rolled out a major upgrade to its AI-focused payments protocol, x402.

In a bid to enable AI agents to transact more seamlessly on-chain, the update allows agents to pay for services like data, APIs, and content using any ERC-20 token. Besides this, it has also introduced Sign-in-with-X (SIWX) to reduce repeated payment friction for automated, agent-to-agent commerce. Here’s How

Coinbase x402 Extends Support

Coinbase’s x402 allows machines to pay machines i.e, autonomours software called AI Agents, apps, APIs using stablecoins.

Now with Coinbase expanding x402 to support ERC-20 tokens, it means AI agents are no longer limited to paying with just one or two assets (like USDC). They can now transact using any token built on Ethereum-compatible networks. Developers can now accept payments in a wide range of crypto assets and not just a few selected stablecoins using tools like Permit2 and authorized transfers.

Alongside payments, Coinbase has also introduced Sign-in-with-X (SIWX), a feature designed to fix a key usability issue in crypto-native applications.

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Previously, users often had to repeatedly sign transactions or repay to access the same content or service. As per its official doc, SIWX creates a persistent access layer, allowing users  or AI agents to prove they’ve already paid and continue using a service without friction.

In practice, this brings a more familiar Web2-like experience to Web3 payments, while still keeping transactions on-chain. This turns x402 into a more flexible, plug-and-play payment layer for apps and AI workflows. And for AI agents, this is a big step forward. They can now transact in multiple tokens, choose the most efficient payment option, and automatically pay for services like data or APIs in real time.

This significantly reduces friction and moves the ecosystem closer to a fully autonomous, multi-token agent economy operating directly on-chain.

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AI Agents Drive 140M On-Chain Payments

The update comes at a time when AI-driven on-chain payments are already seeing significant traction. In the last nine months alone, AI agents have executed over 140 million on-chain transactions. This has generated more than $43 million in volume however the average transaction size remains at just $0.31, highlighting the rise of micro-payments at scale.

The ecosystem is also expanding rapidly, with over 406,000 buyers interacting with 81,000 sellers, signaling real economic activity rather than hype.

Against this backdrop, Coinbase’s move to enable ERC-20 payments via x402 positions it to capture this growing machine-to-machine economy by making transactions more flexible, accessible, and scalable across networks.