Author:E.H.
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
We analyzed all x402 transaction data for December 2025:
- 63 million payments
- $7.5 million USDC
- Over 1,100 projects involved
This is the first real-world case proving that AI agents can pay for services at scale.
Here are our findings:
http://blockrun.ai/state-x402-2025.pdf
http://blockrun.ai/state-x402-2025-deck.pdf
A quick history recap:
The HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code was defined in 1997 but was never practically implemented.
The reason is simple: Credit cards charge $0.30 to process a $0.01 payment, a fee of 3000%. Micropayments were doomed from the start.
Until stablecoins emerged and changed everything.
December 2025 data overview:
- 63 million transactions
- $7.5 million USDC circulated
- 64,000 unique buyers
- 10,000 unique sellers
- Average transaction amount only $0.12
For comparison: Visa's minimum viable transaction is about $15, while x402 is handling payments 100 times smaller and operating at scale.
The ecosystem is experiencing explosive growth:
- Over 1,100 independent projects
- Over 4,800 mainnet endpoints
- 6 active payment coordinators
Most service providers are small, with no clear dominant player.
In other words: Now is the critical moment to "claim your territory."
76% of services charge $0.10 or less
The sweet spot? $0.01-$0.10, accounting for 69% of all services.
This is the realm of micropayments—a zone where credit cards simply can't compete.
AI agents pursue efficiency optimization; they pay on demand, always on a per-use basis.
So what are people actually building?
🥇 Data services: 31%
🥈 AI/LLM (Large Language Models): 25%
🥉 Blockchain: 15%
Not memes, not speculative projects.
But real infrastructure: APIs, analytics, inference services.
"Real money" is already flowing in.
Base vs Solana—who comes out on top?
- Base: 53% (the main playground for developers)
- Solana: 37% (the preferred choice for production environments)
Base has the Coinbase ecosystem, while Solana wins on speed.
Which one to choose? It depends on your use case.
"Isn't this all fake volume?"
Let's be honest:
Artemis data shows that 47% of the transaction volume is for leaderboard farming.
But—this only accounts for 14% of the total transaction value.
Small transactions = cleaner money flow.
The feasibility of micropayments has been validated.
The unsolved billion-dollar problem:
What happens when an AI agent pays incorrectly?
x402 has solved the problem of "how AI agents pay."
But it still hasn't solved:
- Agent authentication (KYA, Know Your Agent)
- Reputation systems
- Dispute resolution mechanisms
Whoever solves these will be the ultimate winner.
- 63 million transactions in a single month
- Average transaction amount: $0.12
The protocol is working.
The economic model is viable.
Developers are in place.
The only remaining question is: What will you build on this foundation?
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