Cloudflare and Coinbase are launching the x402 Foundation to establish a universal standard for AI-driven payments, enabling machines to pay for web resources without human intervention automatically. The protocol converts the HTTP “402 Payment Required” error code into a functional payment system, enabling AI agents to purchase data, services, and content directly. Brian Armstrong, Coinbase’s CEO, called x402 “a big step forward” that allows AI agents to “transact value, not just exchange info.” The pr ...