Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) and Coinbase have announced plans to launch the x402 Foundation, a joint initiative designed to create an open internet standard for digital payments. The foundation’s goal is to simplify how website owners, developers, and content creators send and receive payments online.
The proposed x402 protocol will allow payments to move across geographies, currencies, and payment methods, helping to remove friction from today’s online transactions.
Addressing a long-standing gap in internet payments
For decades, the HTTP ‘402 Payment Required’ status code has existed but never gained widespread use due to a lack of standardization. Current payment systems remain complex, slow, and often limited by geography or currency. This has made micropayments and global payment flows difficult to achieve.
By creating a standardized protocol, the x402 Foundation hopes to change this, making payments as seamless as exchanging data on the web.
Backed by Cloudflare and Coinbase leadership
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince praised Coinbase for its early work on the protocol. “The internet’s core protocols have always been driven by independent governance, which is why we’re proud to work with Coinbase to ensure x402 has the same path,” he said.
Erik Reppel, creator of x402 and Head of Engineering for Coinbase Developer Platform, added, “Agentic commerce is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink how value moves online. The x402 Foundation will help lay the groundwork to make it happen.”
Unlocking new possibilities for developers and creators
The x402 Foundation aims to enable consistent, open communication of payment requests and responses. This could power a wide range of use cases, including:
- Pay-per-use access to APIs, AI models, and research tools
- Micropayments for digital content and tipping creators
- On-demand access to real-time analytics and data feeds
- Pay-as-you-go cloud storage, compute, and content delivery
- Autonomous payments between AI agents and applications
Toward a future of internet-native money
Both Cloudflare and Coinbase believe x402 could become a backbone for the next generation of online commerce. By ensuring the protocol is open, neutral, and interoperable, they aim to accelerate adoption across industries and geographies.
No official timeline has been given for the launch of the foundation or protocol, but both companies emphasized their commitment to building a payment standard that works for everyone.
