Analyzed all transaction data of x402 in December: Nearly 60% used for practical purposes rather than speculation

marsbitОпубликовано 2026-01-04Обновлено 2026-01-04

Введение

Analysis of all x402 transaction data from December reveals a new era of practical micro-payments powered by stablecoins. With 63 million transactions totaling $7.5M USDC, the ecosystem demonstrates AI agents can efficiently pay for services at scale. The average transaction was just $0.12—far below Visa's viable threshold—enabled by low-fee stablecoins. Over 1,100 projects participated, with 76% of services costing ≤$0.10. Key use cases are data services (31%), AI/LLMs (25%), and blockchain infrastructure (15%), indicating real utility over speculation. While 47% of transactions were for leaderboard farming, they represented only 14% of total value. Base (53%) and Solana (37%) lead as primary developer and production environments, respectively. Critical unsolved challenges include agent authentication (KYA), reputation systems, and dispute resolution. The protocol is proven; the infrastructure is growing. The question remains: what will you build?

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?

Click to view the full report

Связанные с этим вопросы

QWhat percentage of x402 transactions in December 2025 were used for practical purposes rather than speculation?

ANearly 60% of the transactions were used for practical purposes rather than speculation, with the top categories being data services (31%), AI/LLM (25%), and blockchain (15%).

QHow many transactions and what total amount of USDC was processed through x402 in December 2025?

AIn December 2025, x402 processed 63 million transactions with a total of $7.5 million USDC in circulation.

QWhat is the average transaction amount for x402 payments, and why is this significant compared to traditional payment systems like Visa?

AThe average transaction amount for x402 is $0.12, which is significant because it is about 100 times smaller than Visa's minimum viable transaction of approximately $15, demonstrating the feasibility of micro-payments at scale.

QWhich two blockchains dominate the x402 ecosystem, and what are their respective market shares?

ABase dominates with 53% of the market share, primarily by developers, while Solana has 37% and is preferred for production environments.

QWhat are the key unsolved challenges in the x402 ecosystem mentioned in the article?

AThe key unsolved challenges are agent authentication (KYA - Know Your Agent), reputation systems, and dispute resolution mechanisms.

Похожее

L1 Value Capture Shrinks Significantly, ETH, SOL, HYPE Struggle to Return to Price Peaks

This analysis examines the structural decline in fee-based revenue capture by Layer 1 (L1) blockchains, arguing that high transaction fees are systematically eroded by innovation, making them unsustainable as a primary valuation driver. Bitcoin’s fee spikes during congestion periods (e.g., 2017 and 2021 rallies) were rapidly mitigated by scaling solutions like SegWit, batching, and the Lightning Network. By 2025, daily fees fell to just $300k, under 1% of miner revenue, despite higher USD transaction volumes. Ordinals and Runes provided brief fee surges but were short-lived. Ethereum’s DeFi and NFT booms drove quarterly fees to $4.3 billion in late 2021. However, competing L1s and L2 rollups (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism) diverted activity. The Dencun upgrade (EIP-4844) drastically reduced data costs for L2s, causing Ethereum’s L1 fee revenue to collapse by over 90% from its peak, falling below $15 million per quarter by late 2025. Solana’s revenue relies heavily on MEV and priority fees from memecoin trading, which peaked in early 2025. However, private AMMs (e.g., HumidiFi) and off-chain order flow (e.g., Hyperliquid’s HyperCore) have captured over 50% of DEX volume, reducing Solana’s MEV fees by more than 90% from their January 2025 highs. Hyperliquid currently dominates perps trading, earning $600 million in 2025, but its fee model (4.5 bps per trade) is vastly more expensive than traditional finance (e.g., CME). As institutional adoption grows, pressure to compress fees will intensify, challenging its token valuation. The report concludes that L1 tokens are increasingly weak as fee-capturing assets. Valuation drivers have shifted toward staking yields, ETF flows, RWA narratives, and macro liquidity—factors more tied to speculative demand than fundamental utility. Bitcoin remains an exception: its security depends not on fees but on continuous price appreciation to offset halvings, making its model uniquely fragile and narrative-dependent.

Odaily星球日报3 мин. назад

L1 Value Capture Shrinks Significantly, ETH, SOL, HYPE Struggle to Return to Price Peaks

Odaily星球日报3 мин. назад

Huobi Growth Academy | Crypto Market Macro Report: Repricing of Crypto Assets Amid Receding Liquidity

In Q1 2026, the cryptocurrency market experienced a historic deleveraging crash, with Bitcoin falling over 40% from its peak and Ethereum and altcoins declining even more sharply. The collapse was driven by a confluence of three major liquidity-tightening factors: the unwinding of yen carry trades, the U.S. Treasury's TGA account rebuild draining market liquidity, and systemic increases in derivatives margin requirements. These factors, combined with the crypto market’s inherent high leverage and overvaluation, triggered a cascading sell-off. The report highlights that U.S. stock market’s extreme valuations acted as a ceiling for risk assets, including crypto. The reversal of yen carry trades—where investors borrowed cheap yen to invest in higher-yielding assets like crypto—accelerated as the Bank of Japan signaled a potential end to ultra-loose policies. Simultaneously, the U.S. Treasury’s replenishment of its TGA account and increased bond issuance withdrew nearly $200 billion in liquidity from financial markets. Additionally, rising margin requirements on derivatives exchanges forced further deleveraging, exacerbating the downturn. Crypto’s structural vulnerabilities—such as high leverage, stagnant stablecoin inflows, and declining on-chain activity—amplified the sell-off. Looking ahead, crypto markets are entering a macro-driven phase where liquidity indicators—such as Fed policy, TGA balances, yen-USD exchange rates, and stablecoin flows—will be critical. The market is expected to remain under pressure until macro liquidity conditions improve, likely in the second half of 2026. The era of excess-liquidity-driven growth is over; crypto assets will now be repriced under a new macro-normal regime.

marsbit31 мин. назад

Huobi Growth Academy | Crypto Market Macro Report: Repricing of Crypto Assets Amid Receding Liquidity

marsbit31 мин. назад

Торговля

Спот
Фьючерсы
活动图片