x402 Payment Protocol Skill

The open payment standard that enables services to charge for access to their APIs and content directly over HTTP using the 402 Payment Required status code. Developed by Coinbase as an open standard and backed by the x402 Foundation (co-founded with Cloudflare), x402 enables crypto-native payments without accounts or traditional payment processors.

Protocol Overview

x402 activates the long-reserved HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code for programmatic cryptocurrency transactions. Key characteristics:

• Zero Protocol Fees: Only nominal blockchain network fees
• HTTP-Native: Built into existing HTTP request/response cycle
• Instant Settlement: Stablecoin payments settle in seconds
• Stateless: No sessions, accounts, or credentials required
• Wallet-Based Identity: Crypto wallet address serves as identity
• AI-Ready: Designed for machine-to-machine autonomous payments

Ecosystem Partners: AWS, Anthropic, Circle, NEAR, Cloudflare