Hierdie artikel is verdeel in vier dele, elk van wat die konteks wat jy nodig het vir die volgende bou. Deel 1 verduidelik hoe x402 pas in bestaande Web2 en ondernemingsrekeningstrome, en hoe dit maatskappye "op ketting" kan beweeg deur API-gebruik in stablecoin-gebaseerde mikrobetalings te verander sonder om hul geestelike model van sagteware te verander. and how x402, together with ERC-8004 and programmable wallets, can turn scraped content and APIs into nano-businesses that agents pay for per call. Part 2 shows why the current ad-and-subscription web breaks in an agentic world Deel 3 analiseer die tegniese bottelblokkades wat vandag agenthandel blokkeer, en beskryf dan hoe x402, ERC-8004 en agent ontdekkingslae per oproepbetalings, spamweerstand, pryse en interoperabiliteit aanpak. Deel 4 gee 'n konkrete voorbeeld in DayDreams.Systems en sy Lucid-stapel, wat toon hoe AP2, x402, A2A en ERC-8004 saamkom in werklike gereedskap wat ontwikkelaars toelaat om autonoom agente in produksie te implementeer, te bedryf en te monetiseer. Hierdie skryf is vir tegniese beleefde lesers, veral ontwikkelaars, protokolle ontwerpers en produkteams wat werk met AI-agente, API's of crypto rails, wat 'n duidelike visie van hoe hierdie gebiede verbind wil hê. Dit verduidelik hoe x402, ERC-8004 en agent ontdekkingslae API's en agente in klein gebruik gebaseerde besighede verander, en wat dit beteken vir werklike stelsels oor die volgende 1-3 jaar. Vocabulary: In hierdie artikel gebruik ek die term mikro-onderneming om te verwys na klein / nano-ondernemings vir 'n enkele x402-prysende eindpunt of agent wat onafhanklik optree en inkomste verdien uit per-oproepbetalings in stablecoins. AP2 (Agent Payment Protocol): AP2 definieer hoe agente mekaar betaal. Dit standaardiseer hoe 'n diens 'n prys sit, hoe betaling bevestig word, en hoe beide partye registreer wat gekoop is, sodat betalings direk in geautomatiseerde agent-werkstrome pas. A2A (agent-tot-agent kommunikasie): A2A ondersoek hoe agente kommunikeer, konteks deel en werk koördineer. x402 is 'n HTTP-gebaseerde betalingsprotokol vir APIs. 'N bediener reageer met 'n 402 betaling vereis status kode, die prys, en 'n betaling roete. ERC-8004 (8004) is 'n standaard op-keten register vir agente. Dit gee elke agent 'n identiteit en 'n plek om reputasie data te stoor, sodat ander agente en gereedskap kan besluit wie om te vertrou en watter dienste om te bel. Voorwoord **x402 and ERC-8004. \ Standards for on-chain payments and identity for agent operation. Most people have never heard of these standards, and even many crypto natives only see the surface of the agent narrative. Behind them is a simple idea. Agents can pay and get paid through tiny on-chain transactions, and in return, they can handle tasks that would be impossible to scale by hand. Ons is nog vroeg in hierdie opkomende ruimte, maar ek vermoed dat alles baie vinniger sal ontwikkel as wat die meeste mense verwag. Een van die dryfmasters hiervoor is die drang om 'n agent-gedrewe internet te bou. 'N Ander is die behoefte om privaatheid in die prosesse wat ons reeds gebruik, te verbeter. Byvoorbeeld, Vitalik Buterin het reeds die behoefte aan privaatheidsbewarende x402-betalings beklemtoon. Elke keer as 'n agent 'n eindpunt betaal, lek die diens wat hy gebruik het, wanneer hy dit gebruik het, hoe dikwels hy dit gebruik het, en soms selfs die ruwe grootte of tipe werk. Mededingers kan sien op watter APIs jou aansoek of agent vertrou. Data makelaars kan gebruikersgedrag en besigheidslogika herbou uit betalingstroom. Vir menslike gebruikers, dit is 'n privaatheid nachtmerrie. Vir agente soos gerapporteer, dit is ook 'n alfa lek. Agente kan baie praktiese werk vir jou doen, maar privaatheidsbewarende betalings is een van die eerste probleme wat opgelos moet word. 'n Ontwikkelingsteam wat ek as 'n voorbeeld gebruik, bou tans private x402-transaksie op die Starknet-stapel, ook bekend as z402. Wanneer hierdie laag in plek is, maak dit die deur oop vir honderde gebruik gevalle. As jy verder lees, leer jy meer oor sommige van hierdie. Ek sal eers verduidelik waar die web vandag is en waarom agente die ou ad-en-abonnementmodel breek. Ek sal ook die basiese terme wat jy nodig het om te verstaan om die meeste uit hierdie lees te kry, invoer. Dan sal ek wys hoe standaarde soos x402 en ERC-8004 agente 'n manier gee om te betaal en waarde te bewys. Ten slotte sal ek kyk na 'n voorbeeld ontwikkelingspan, DayDreams.Systems wat op hierdie standaarde bou. Die doelwit is nie om 'n spesifieke span te bevorder nie, maar om te wys waarom hierdie soort stroomversorging waarskynlik belangrik is as die agentekonomie werklik word. Part 1 - Bringing companies on-chain with x402 Today, most x402 experiments start with crypto-native builders, but the long-term impact ultimately falls on traditional companies. x402 runs on familiar Web2 infrastructure but settles in on-chain stablecoins, so it integrates directly with existing usage-based billing. **Enterprises already use metered APIs and issue monthly invoices. As 'n eindpunt kan blootstel "dit oproep koste 0,2 cent in USDC" oor HTTP 402, kan finansiële span versoen dat vloei op dieselfde manier wat hulle hanteer wolk of SaaS koste. Met ander woorde, x402 vra nie maatskappye om te verander hoe hulle dink oor sagteware. Dit is ook hoekom ek dink dit is noodsaaklik om duidelik te wees oor wat x402 nie is nie. Dit is nie 'n tokenverkoop nie, en dit is nie 'n spekulatiewe eiendom nie. Dit is 'n betalingsprotokol. That is also why I think it is essential to be clear about what x402 is not. It is not a token sale, and it is not a speculative asset. It is a payment protocol. Or, as people in payments, fintech, and crypto might say, a “payment rail.” Uit my oogpunt, en uit die manier waarop bouers in die blockchain-ruimte daaroor praat, is x402 'n manier om mikrobetalings oor die internet vinnig in staat te stel en tradisionele maatskappye betekenisvol op ketting te laat word sonder om hulself as "kripto-projekte" te herbenam. Sodra jy na die gebruikersbasis nommers kyk, word die potensiaal duideliker. Vandag is daar ongeveer 40-50 miljoen weke aktiewe crypto-gebruikers. Ten opsigte van die vergelyking, ongeveer 900 miljoen mense gebruik reeds ChatGPT-klasse-toepassings. Stel nou voor 'n groot koppelvlak, soos ChatGPT of 'n soortgelyke agentfront-end, wat toenemend afhanklik is van eksterne API's, wat self pryse in x402 blootstel. This would make it easier to share revenue with third-party services, give users or their own agents the option to pay directly for some calls, and reduce the need for custom billing integrations with every partner. As so 'n opstel algemeen word, praat jy nie meer oor duisende transaksie per dag nie. You are looking at billions of microscopic events, each representing a paid unit of compute or data. Traditional card networks and ad-funded models are not designed for this pattern. They expect fewer, larger payments, not billions of sub-cent charges between machines. Card systems also assume a human at the end of the flow and a checkout-style experience. Agent payments look different. They occur in the background, often in bursts of many small calls, with prices that depend on context, volume, or conditional rules. This is the type of workload for which stablecoin rails and an HTTP-native protocol, such as x402, are better suited than card fees and monthly billing cycles. Card systems also do not expose a simple, machine-readable way for one service to quote a price per call and another service to pay it automatically. x402 is ontwerp om presies hierdie gaping tussen verlede en moderne betalingsrails te vul. Dit hou die bekende HTTP-verzoek-en-responsmodel, koppel 'n stablecoin-prys aan elke oproep, en stel daardie prys op die ketting as 'n klein, gebruikgebaseerde betaling. Op die skaal waar agentverkeer leef, kan daardie soort betalingsprotokol die granulariteit hanteer waarmee bestaande betalingsinfrastruktuur sukkel. Sodra jy daardie volume en hierdie rigting van reis ernstig neem, verskyn 'n ander vraag. Wat as die groot werknemers x402 ignoreer en alles binne hul eie faktuurstelsels hou? Wel, hulle kan nie x402 eindpunte van die internet verwyder nie, maar hulle kan besluit watter betalingstrome hulle in hul eie produkte ondersteun. The counterpoint is that x402 does not need permission from any single platform. It rides on plain HTTP, so any agent, SDK, or “agent browser” can call an x402 endpoint and pay it. If x402 endpoints become a good source of useful data or computing, it is cheaper for big companies to talk to them than to rebuild every useful resource in-house. If they refuse to interoperate, that creates an opening for other tools, wallets, and agent clients that do. In that sense, x402 is less about convincing a single company to flip a switch and more about setting a standard for the rest of the ecosystem that works even if incumbents are slow to join. Vanuit hierdie perspektief, wanneer mense praat oor "om maatskappye aan die ketting te bring," is die fokus nie op die tokenisering van salarisse of die plaas van aandele op 'n ledger nie. Dit verskuif na iets meer wêreldwye en kragtig: die berekeningslaag vir daaglikse AI-API's en SaaS-eindpunte beweeg na x402, sodat die internet miljarde sub-cent betalings per dag kan ondersteun sonder om onder sy eie besigheidsmodel te kollapseer. Part 2- Introduction: Beyond Ads and Subscriptions: Agent Commerce on x402 and ERC-8004 Stel jou voor dat jy 'n webwerf met werklike waarde bestuur. 'n navorsingsblog. 'n niche data-voedsel. 'n boek wat jy gratis verskaf. 'n lang vormgids wat jou nagte en weke geneem het om te skryf. Vandag is die manier waarop jy "monetiseer" dat werk is eenvoudig, en, om eerlik te sê, wreed. Jy plak in ad script en hoop dat menslike oogballe verskyn. Ondertussen, bots en AI-agente skraap jou bladsye op die kode vlak, skraap die ruwe inhoud, voer dit in hul pipelines, en betaal jou nooit 'n cent nie. jou advertensies laai. jou opstelling render. jou analitiese registreer nog 'n "besoek." Maar die werklike verbruiker is 'n koplose agent wat nie omgee vir banners of pop-ups nie. TL;DR Jy dra die hosting koste. Jy dra die bandbreedte koste. Die agent gaan weg met die waarde. Over time, this turns into a more general “pay-per-crawl” pattern. Most web traffic comes from automated clients, not from humans in browsers, so it makes sense that machines, not people, become the primary payers at the protocol level. Now imagine a different setup. Your content sits behind a tiny paywall that understands x402. When a human or an AI agent wants your data, they do not see ads. They see a 402 “Payment Required” response with clear, machine-readable terms. Their client or agent calls you with a wallet that already holds a small stablecoin balance, and that the user has authorized to spend on their behalf. Die agent betaal 'n fraksie van 'n cent van daardie balans, en ontvang dan die data. 'N Menslike gebruiker kry nog steeds die balans van tyd tot tyd, deur kaart, bankoverdrag, of 'n normale on-ramp, maar elke oproep word outomaties deur die sagteware hanteer, nie deur op 'n "Betal" knoppie op elke versoek te klik nie. Die agent maak die mikro-betalings, maar die mens bepaal steeds die beleid en bron van befondsing. Results: Geen rekening Geen oë Geen e-pos vang funnels Aan jou kant, jy babysit nie API sleutels nie. Jy veg nie 'n eindelose oorlog teen skrapers nie. Jy bestuur jou eie agent wat die data beskerm, ooreenkoms toegang, en verkoop dit namens jou. Met ERC-8004, daardie agent het 'n verifieerbare identiteit en 'n reputasie rekord op die ketting, sodat ander agente weet met wie hulle praat en of hulle die stroom wat dit bedien kan vertrou. Jou “skraping slagoffer” webwerf word 'n nano besigheid in 'n agent ekonomie. Maar wag 'n sekonde. Daar is ook 'n "ligte kant van die maan" daarop. : Agents can Dryf as matchmakers tussen jou inhoud en die regte lesers, net soos jy doen wanneer jy jou werk op sosiale media deel. Bied persoonlike toegangspunte en outomatiese opvolgings vir mense wat jou werk geniet, en help om dit na die regte hoeke van die internet te versprei Monitor die gesondheid van jou inhoud deur te volg watter dele van jou artikel veroorsaak terugbetalings, vinnige bounces, of nooit lei tot opvolgingsaksie nie. Dryf as kwaliteit filters en bring jou slegs die materiaal wat ooreenstem met jou voorkeure Hanteer toegang beheer deur te bestuur wie kry watter vlak van inhoud, watter dele is gratis, en watter is betaal per lees Check sponsorship offers against your ethical guidelines and pricing, and place small, relevant sponsorships in your content feed on your terms Bied kruisformaat aflewering deur 'n kort audio-versie, 'n bullet-point-versie, of 'n "vir stigters" -versie van die dubbele inhoud te genereer, en bied dit as mikro-upgrades aan Laat die leser se agent die formaat kies wat die persoon verkies En, op die lang termyn, betaal hulle vir hul eie bestaan deur meer te verdien van hul werk as wat hulle spandeer op data, rekenaar en gereedskap. Kontroleer onbevoegde geld en gebruik betalings om mense, ander agente en sagtewarestelsels te beïnvloed Elke Google query verbruik CPU, geheue, netwerk bandbreedte en energie. Dit kos werklike hulpbronne elke keer as jy 'n woord ty en druk Enter. Jy sien nooit die rekening nie, want Google het lank gelede besluit dat jy nie die kliënt is nie. Die adverteerder is. Om dit te doen werk, Google verkoop toegang tot sy indeks. Gesponsorde skakels koop hul pad na die top. Die eerste resultaat is dikwels nie die beste antwoord vir jou nie. Dit is die antwoord wat 'n veiling gewen het. Nou projek wat vorentoe in 'n agent internet. In plaas van 'n reuse soekmasjien wat koste agter advertensies verberg, het jy 'n soekagent wat net vir jou werk. Jy betaal dit direk in crypto deur gebruik te maak x402 vir die tyd en data wat dit spandeer op jou query. Dit hou jou versoek uit na baie data verskaffers, elkeen met hul eie x402 paywall, en kies die beste mengsel van prys en gehalte. Die resultate wat dit terugkeer is nie gesponsordeer nie. Hulle weerspieël wat jou agent eintlik glo is die beste antwoord onder jou beperkings. **Again, ERC-8004 matters here. \ Your search agent needs to decide which other agents and services to trust. Identity, reputation, and validation registries give it a way to see who has delivered good results in the past and who has a track record of spam or low-quality work. In plaas van SEO speletjies en ad veilings, kry jy 'n mark waar agente mekaar rang op grond van verifieerbare werk en werklike betalings. Once you have x402 for payments and ERC-8004 for identity and reputation, many of the broken parts of today’s internet start to look fixable. #1 API billing becomes less painful. Op die oomblik, as jy 'n API hardloop, stel jy voorskrifte, tariefbeperkings of aangepaste ooreenkomste op. Jy oorbetaal vir groot kliënte en onderbetaal die lang staart. Met x402, kan enige API-eindpunt 'n prys per oproep publiseer, tot fraksies van 'n cent, en stablecoins oor HTTP 402 aanvaar sonder rekening of handmatige faktuur. Agente en programme betaal presies vir wat hulle gebruik, en niks anders nie. #2 Spam becomes more expensive. In Web2 kan bots jou eindpunte gratis hamer totdat jy opgee en alles agter API-toets, CAPTCHAs of harde gating sit. In 'n x402-wêreld kos elke versoek iets, selfs as dit klein is. Aanvallers kan nie oneindige verkeer spuit sonder om werklike geld te verbrand nie. Legitieme gebruikers betaal nog steeds baie minder as 'n tipiese abonnement, en hulle hoef nie jou beskermingskledings te veg nie. #3 Agent discovery becomes less biased. As ontdekkingsmasjiene bo-op x402 en ERC-8004 sit, kan hulle dienste rangskik nie net deur wie die hardste skree, maar deur wie ander hoë reputasie agente eintlik betaal en gebruik. #4 Multi-agent workflows become less fragile. Protokolle soos A2A of MCP definieer hoe agente met mekaar kommunikeer. ERC-8004 veranker wie hulle is en hoekom jy hulle kan vertrou. x402 gee hulle 'n manier om na elke oproep te vestig. Spreek. Bewys. Betaal. And all of this happens without throwing the web away - HTTP stays. APIs stay. Ons het net uiteindelik die status kode wat vir drie dekades gereserveer is, verlig en dit verbind tot 'n globale ledger. Ons gee agente 'n paspoort en 'n kredietlyn, en ons vertel hulle: “As jy die waarde van die internet wil gebruik, betaal jy die mense wat dit skep.” “If you want to use the internet’s value, you pay the people who create it.” That is the gap that x402 and ERC-8004 try to close. They do not promise magic. They take two simple ideas that the speakers in the Hy kom voortdurend terug na: Vertroue moet net so inspekteerbaar wees soos 'n transaksie. DayDreams X Space Payment should be as native as a GET request In die agentekonomie wat ek wil sien, neem agente nie net nie. Hulle bring ook. my eie agent kan my inhoud agter x402 beskerm, praat ERC-8004 sodat ander agente weet met wie hulle omgaan, en beveel my werk aan lesers wat dit waarskynlik waardeer. Ander agente kan namens lesers werk, betaalde eindpunte skandeer en besluit dat my artikel 'n fraksie van 'n cent waard is. For twenty years, the web asked one central question: “ ” Does this look good to a human on a screen? Is dit goed vir 'n mens op 'n skerm? We obsessed over templates, CSS, copy, and SEO so that a landing page both looked good and ranked well. In the agent era, the question changes, and the question changes the angle to this: "Kan 'n agent jou waarde bereik deur middel van 'n skoon API, betaal vir dit oor x402, en weet van ERC-8004 met wie dit gaan?" “ ” Can an agent reach your value through a clean API, pay for it over x402, and know from ERC-8004 who it is dealing with? Sites en dienste wat ja op daardie vraag beantwoord, is nog steeds bekommerd oor UX en SEO, maar hulle is nie afhanklik van fancy landingspagina's om te oorleef nie. Hulle het iets meer beduidend. Hulle het 'n besigheidsmodel en 'n koppelvlak wat die moedertaal van die nuwe internet praat: agente, API's en fijnkorrelde betalings. Deel 3 - Tegnologie wat die internet sal verander Agent handel, x402, en ERC-8004: van ad-gefinansierde web tot betaalde API's Where we are now: ads, subscriptions, and hard-coded APIs Waar ons nou is: advertensies, abonnees en hardgekodeerde API's Kom ons kyk nader na die huidige toestand van die online ervaring. Die meeste aanlynprodukte is nog steeds afhanklik van twee basiese besigheidsmodelle. Advertensies betaal vir "gratis" inhoud, en abonemente bundel toegang tot maandelikse of jaarlikse planne. This works poorly for today’s AI-driven internet. AI agente kan advertensies ignoreer. Abonnees is te grof wanneer jy net 'n paar oproepe of 'n klein hoeveelheid data nodig het. API's bied werklike waarde, maar daar is geen standaard manier om per oproep op die internetskala te belê nie. Aan die tegniese kant lyk die meeste AI-stelsels nog steeds so: An app or agent uses a set of APIs with manually managed API keys. Werkstrome word hard gekodeer deur mense. Betalings word verwerk deur middel van afsonderlike Web2-rekeningstelsels, soos Stripe-dashboards, aangepaste fakture of voorafbetaalde krediete. Toegang woon dikwels in ommuurde tuine eerder as op oop, gedeelde spoorweë. This setup has some obvious limitations: Agente kan nie maklik nuwe dienste op hul eie ontdek nie. Daar is geen standaard betalingstroom vir masjien-tot-masjien oproepe nie. Elke integrasie is aangepas, stadig om te bou en moeilik om te vervang. Misbruik en skraap is algemeen omdat daar geen ingeboude ekonomiese koste per oproep is nie. Terselfdertyd is die vraag na AI en APIs ontploffend. Daar is sowat 10 miljoen weke kryptogebruikers. Hundreds of millions of users interact with ChatGPT-class apps. **We are in “the API era.” \ The web serves more APIs than static pages, yet the payment and access layer still behaves like the early web. What needs to change for agent commerce to work? Wat moet verander om agent handel te werk? AI beweeg van beantwoording van vrae na optrede. Agente chat nie net nie. Hulle is: Bel API's om data en konteks te vang. Reserveer en bestuur cloud hulpbronne. Werkstrome oor dienste. Skep verskeie gereedskap om 'n taak end-to-end op te los. To support this, we need the following three: 'N Standaard betaling primitiewe vir APIs en agente, soos x402. 2. A discovery and identity layer so agents can find and rank services, which in the Ethereum ecosystem maps to ERC-8004 agent registries. 'N Bedryfslaag sodat individue en span eindpunte in klein, doeltreffende besighede kan verander. Vandag is die ontbrekende stukke dikwels betaling en ontdekking. Agente het nie 'n inheemse manier om per oproep te betaal nie. Aanbieders kan nie klein, nano-grootte dienste op 'n eenvoudige, oop manier blootstel nie. Developers do not know to list endpoints or to reach users beyond their own app. where how Dit blokkeer 'n meer granulêre en oop mark waar: A weather API can charge a fraction of a cent per call. 'N Niche dataset kan per query in plaas van per maand opgelê word. A small tool can be a nano-business you set up in 30 minutes and leave running. Sonder 'n standaard herinventeer elke projek faktureer en toegang. That slows the market and keeps power in a few large platforms. Current bottlenecks: walled gardens, spam, mispriced data Huidige bottelblokkades: ommuurde tuine, spam, verkeerde data The web stack of today suffers from being built on the code infrastructure of yesteryear. #1. Walled gardens and private workflows Workflows are private and hard-coded. API keys are stored and managed by humans. Agente kan nie nuwe dienste vrylik ondersoek nie, omdat duidelike kontrakte, aangepaste dashboards of toegang tot sleutels per verkoper. Result: Innovation is locked within platforms rather than occurring on neutral rails. #2. No standard way for agents to pay Agents need to pay for: Data. Compute. Modelle en inferensie. Specialized tools and services. However, there is currently no common payment layer for agents. Providers handle billing off-chain. Calls might be free until rate limits hit, then “contact sales.” Daar is geen draagbare, masjienleesbare manier om te sê "dit eindpunt kos X per oproep." This prevents a real microservice economy between agents. #3. Broken pricing models for content and data Waardevolle webwerwe en datasette word gratis gekraap. Ads do not work well when agents are the consumers. Subscriptions do not fit small, rare, or niche usage. There is no good way to price: A single clean Polymarket signal. A specialized dataset query. 'N Hoë waarde artikel gelees deur 'n agent. Die gevolg is ofwel ondermonetisering of te swaar paywalls. #4. Spam and free riding Bots and abusive traffic often attack APIs. Without a built-in cost per call, spam is cheap. Providers add complex rate limits, CAPTCHAs, and manual approvals. This hurts honest developers and makes APIs harder to use. #5. Distribution and discoverability Builders do not know: Where to list x402-style endpoints. How agents will find them. How to rank providers when many offer similar services. The coming evolution phase is comparable to the early web. Soekmasjiene het die gateway vir webwerwe geword. Here, agent discovery engines and agent stores will serve as the gateway. However, without standards, these discovery layers risk becoming new silos. How x402 solves per-call payments and spam How x402 solves per-call payments and spam Let me present now a clear “ ” structure around x402 that will need to be developed. cause → solution → fix cause → solution → fix x402 in short: Uses HTTP status 402 Payment Required. Note: The HTTP 402 Payment Required code has existed in the spec since the early web, but it never had a practical implementation until standards such as x402 defined how to attach a real payment flow to it. Let's have a server reply with “you must pay X in asset Y” in a machine-readable way. Laat 'n kliënt (menslike app of agent) betaal deur stablecoins op 'n ondersteunde ketting te gebruik. After payment, the server returns the result. This has several important properties. It fits directly into existing HTTP flows. Web2-ontwikkelaars verstaan reeds statuscodes en retries. Developers only need a wallet adapter and payment handler, not a full Web3 stack. For them, it feels closer to adding Stripe than building a dApp. How x402 fixes the issues Standard per-call payments: Each endpoint can publish a clear per-call price. Agents and apps can: Discover the endpoint. Receive a 402 with pricing terms. Pay and get the result. **This turns any useful resource into a nano business. Better pricing models: x402 supports: Per-call pricing. Very small payments, even fractions of a cent. Flexible models for data, content, and compute. **This aligns well with AI and API cost structures, which are naturally usage-based. **Spam resistance: Every call has a cost. \ Bots and abusive patterns become expensive to run. x402 serves as both a security primitive and a payment rail. **Open and chain-agnostic design: x402 stays open and does not lock anyone to a single vendor. \ Different chains and infrastructure providers can implement it. Any wallet that speaks x402 can pay any endpoint that speaks x402. **On-ramp for traditional companies: Enterprises already use usage-based billing, and stablecoins are easier to explain than volatile tokens. \ x402 lets them reuse: HTTP. Usage invoices. Stable settlement rails. This lowers their barrier to on-chain adoption. Why ERC-8004 is as important as x402 Why ERC-8004 is as important as x402 Payment is not enough. Agents also need to decide who to call. Ons moet nou x402 koppel aan 'n identiteits- en reputasielaag, spesifiek aan die ERC-8004-standaard vir agentregisters. ERC-8004 laat agente toe om identiteit, reputasie en verifikasiegegevens op die ketting te veranker. Samen bied x402 en ERC-8004 agente 'n manier om beide vir dienste te betaal en die dienste wat hulle kies, te vertrou. Key points: Agents register with an on-chain identity. Reputation and performance metrics link to that identity. Orchestration engines can pick among providers based on trust signals, not only price. This enables: Trusted agent-to-agent commerce, where an agent can justify why it chose a given provider. Composable orchestration, where workflows route traffic to high-reputation endpoints. Open ontdekking, waar soektog- en agentwinkels hulpbronne op neutrale infrastruktuur kan indekser in plaas van geslote kataloge. Together, x402 and ERC-8004 create: A payment primitive for APIs and agents. 'N ontdekkings-en-vertroue primitiewe wat daarbo sit. This is the foundation for an open agent-commerce stack. Op die top van die stapel kan ons nou beton gereedskap byvoeg, waarvan baie reeds in ontwikkeling is. Kom ons gaan na die sake. DayDreams.Systems: turning the stack into real tools and businesses DayDreams.Systems: turning the stack into real tools and businesses As 'n voorbeeld van gereedskap wat op die x402 en ERC-8004-stapel gebou word, kyk ons na die DayDreams.Systems-projek. The work of the DayDreams team mainly focuses on the following 3 areas: 1. XGATE: discovery and composition XGATE acts as a discovery layer for x402 resources and for agents registered through ERC-8004 or compatible identity registries. Builders can list endpoints. Agents can find and compose them. Orchestration logic can stitch together multiple micro endpoints that each do one thing well. Example flow: An agent receives a task. Die agent vra XGATE om relevante eindpunte (data, signale, gereedskap) te vind. The agent pays per call by x402. Die agent kombineer die outputs in 'n eindresultaat. This turns “glue code” into a generic layer rather than having custom logic in each app. 2. Lucid: operations and micro-business management Lucid is DayDreams’s platform for individuals who run many micro businesses. Users can bring agents they built elsewhere or by using the Lucid agent kit. They can manage all their x402 endpoints from a single location and sandbox. Hulle kan P&L, fondsagente opspoor en analise inspekteer. In die praktyk bied Lucid: An operations dashboard for agent commerce. A way to manage multiple nano businesses from a single interface. Tools to understand which endpoints earn, which lose money, and where to optimize. 3. Agent framework and software development kits (SDKs) DayDreams fokus ook op die ontwikkelaar ervaring. The stack includes: An agent framework with context, memory, and multi-agent collaboration. Libraries to integrate x402 payments into services. Infrastructure to help agents call APIs, pay for them, and combine the results. Together, this turns the abstract idea of “agent-to-agent commerce on x402” into code that real developers can ship. Competition and wider ecosystem Competition and wider ecosystem It is important to note that DayDreams is not the only project in this area. Die groter ekosisteem sluit in: Other agent frameworks that orchestrate tools and APIs, including those that build on ERC-8004 or on alternative identity and reputation layers. Traditional payment processors and cloud providers that explore usage-based billing and machine-to-machine payments on Web2 rails. Alternative crypto payment and streaming protocols that target per-second or per-stream billing rather than per-call HTTP flows. Emerging discovery and agent store platforms that plan to index AI tools, APIs, and agents, sometimes with their own marketplace logic. These projects share similar goals: Maak dit makliker vir agente en programme om vir dienste te betaal. Improve discovery of tools and data. Allow small providers to compete with large platforms. The specific angle in this article is the combination of x402, open discovery layers, and nano businesses built around single paid endpoints. Ek gebruik DayDreams.Systems se Lucid as 'n konkrete voorbeeld van hierdie pad, nie as die enigste opsie nie. As jy wil uitvind watter projek jou behoeftes die beste pas, help dit om drie basiese vrae te kyk: Hoe oop is die standaarde en koppelvlakke, en hoe moeilik is dit om te verlaat as jy jou gedagtes later verander? Hoe eenvoudig en duidelik voel die ontwikkelaar se ervaring in werklike werkstrome, van eerste toets tot produksie? Hoe goed pas die prys- en tegniese model gebruik gebaseerde AI en API koste in jou eie stapel? From status quo to agent commerce in three steps From status quo to agent commerce in three steps This, and the final section of this article, explain how the components in this article form an end-to-end flow. It first outlines the current problems, then describes the protocol-level design, and finally shows how it works in practical deployments. The following sequence shows how these components work together end-to-end. Cause (status quo) → Solution (x402 + 8004 + discovery) → Fix in practice (agents and endpoints + Lucid/XGATE-style platforms) oorsaak The internet runs on APIs, but business models are stuck on ads and subscriptions. AI agents act more like users, but they lack standard payment and discovery tools. Werkstrome is privaat, toegang is gesluit en spam is goedkoop. Solution Use x402 to define a standard per-call payment flow for HTTP. Add an identity-and-reputation layer to help agents find and rank services. Bouw ontdekkingsmotors en agentwinkels wat x402 eindpunte indexeer Provide frameworks and platforms that enable individuals and teams to run micro-businesses on these rails. Fix in die praktyk A developer spins up a server and exposes a useful resource as an x402 endpoint. Die eindpunt word 'n nano-bedryf met duidelike pryse en on-keten afwikkeling. Agents find it through discovery layers like XGATE. They pay per call with stablecoins through x402. Lucid and similar platforms help operators manage, fund, and optimize these nano businesses. Over time, a new market forms in which agents pay agents for APIs, data, and compute, while ads and coarse subscriptions become less critical. Vanuit 'n tegniese oogpunt is dit 'n skoon, incrementele verandering. It keeps HTTP and the mental model of APIs, but extends them with: Masjien leesbare pryse. Native on-chain settlement. Open discovery and identity. This is a realistic path from where we are now to a web where agent commerce is normal behavior, not a niche experiment. Finishing thoughts There is already a small but growing ecosystem around x402 and ERC-8004, spanning payment routers, agent toolkits, and agent-native discovery engines. Different teams explore different trade-offs around custody, privacy, and UX. This article does not rank or endorse any of them, but aims to explain why these standards exist and why they are likely to matter if agent commerce takes off. Disclosure: Ek hou posisie op projekte wat op die x402/8004 ekosisteme werk. Hierdie artikel is vir opvoedkundige doeleindes en is nie beleggingsadvies nie. Part 4 - DayDreams.Systems: an x402 / 8004 implementation example The current article discusses AI agents that do real work, pay each other for APIs, and build an economy on top of standards such as x402 and ERC-8004. DayDreams.Systems fits into this picture as a practical implementation layer for these standards. The team has been building toward an agentic economy over the last 12 months and has aligned its stack with x402 since Coinbase introduced the standard in May 2025. In practice, this means that DayDreams' agentic endpoints are concrete tools that your agent can call to compose DeFi strategies and other paid workflows on top of x402 and ERC-8004. Hierdie standaarde is kragtig, maar ongerefinieerd. They address “how to pay,” “how to speak,” and “how to identify agents,” but on their own do not provide developers with a clear way to deploy, monitor, and scale agent workloads. DayDreams Lucid sits atop this stack as an abstraction layer. It aims to provide a place where agents can act as economic actors: they communicate A2A, pay and get paid via x402/AP2, and carry an ERC-8004 identity from the moment they come online. Personal autonomy is now open to anyone shipping paid agentic endpoints. Reputation and volume will gravitate toward useful endpoints, putting early movers ahead when traffic spikes. Gebou met Lucid -> Versprei deur XGATE -> Betaal op x402. Hoe DayDreams die stapel struktureer DayDreams.Systems currently present four core components. 1. DAYDREAMS Library – Open-source agent framework DAYDREAMS Library – Open-source agent framework Build autonomous AI agents. Use a modular architecture. Reik verskeie ketting deur x402 as 'n algemene betaling laag. Develop in the open, with GitHub and documentation available. The library serves as the foundation for agent logic: tools, policies, and behaviors. 2. DREAMS Router – x402-powered USDC router DREAMS Router - x402-aangedrewe USDC router Pay multiple providers with USDC through a single interface. Use a unified payment abstraction on top of x402. Route across multiple chains. Optimize for cost and path automatically. One example is paying for Google’s VEO3 directly with USDC over x402, with more providers planned. 3. Lucid – a platform for autonomous agent operation Lucid – a platform for autonomous agent operation Run agents in an autonomous mode. Define custom workflows. Monitor behavior in real time. Streef na maksimum onafhanklikheid eerder as handmatige toesig. Lucid is also where AP2, A2A, x402, and ERC-8004 are tied together into a single operational surface. 4. XGATE – agent-native search engine XGATE – agent-native search engine Index x402 endpoints by agents, for agents. Expose a live view of the x402 network. Provide direct links to deployment targets. This component is the discovery side of the stack, with a focus on “agent engine optimization” rather than human SEO. The intended user experience is as follows: Build agents → manage them in Lucid → discover and consume them via XGATE → pay agents → build more agents → repeat. Lucid as an abstraction over AP2, A2A, x402, and 8004 Lucid serves as both a runtime and a control plane for agent commerce. Standards such as x402, ERC-8004, and A2A define a shared contract for payments, identity, and messaging, so agents built on different stacks can interoperate rather than live in isolated walled gardens. Lucid’s goal is to make that interoperability practical by providing builders with a concrete runtime and toolkit that enable many independent agents to participate in the same agentic economy. When a developer deploys an agent on Lucid, several capabilities are available from the start: The agent can send and receive x402 payments and use the AP2 protocol to settle payments with other agents. Payments: The agent can join A2A conversations and workflows rather than relying solely on one-off HTTP calls. Communication: : The agent can register via ERC-8004, which provides it with an on-chain identity and a space for reputation data. Identity and trust : The platform can route tasks across multiple models and endpoints, with built-in monitoring. Inference and routing Die doel is dat ontwikkelaars fokus op wat 'n agent doen, terwyl Lucid hanteer hoe dit betaal, selfbewys en met ander deelnemers kommunikeer. What kinds of agents is Lucid designed for The ecosystem already sketches a wide range of agent types that could live on this stack: Makro navorsingsagente wat betaalde daaglikse verslae publiseer. Game agents that play on-chain games, grind, farm, or plan strategies on behalf of a user. Arbitrage agents that scan exchanges and execute trades. E-commerce scouts that monitor marketplaces for specific items and perform instant checkout. Content agents that draft, edit, and publish newsletters or posts, keeping a consistent tone. Data guardians that watch wallets, positions, or contracts and trigger protective actions. Kennisagente wat spesialiseer in gebiede soos wet of biotegnologie, beskikbaar op versoek. Kreatiewe agente wat musiek, kuns of video-snippets as klein digitale produkte uitvoer. Coordination agents that connect other agents into larger workflows and act as orchestrators. Al hierdie kan in dieselfde ekonomie bedryf word. 'n duidelike ontwerpkeuse is om agente volgens werklike inkomste te rangskik, sodat inkomste dien as sosiale bewys van gehalte. In hierdie model is x402 hoe 'n agent vir sy werk betaal, en ERC-8004 bied 'n gestruktureerde oppervlak om te bewys dat die werk die moeite werd is om te betaal. Lucid Agents: BYO framework with x402 and 8004 baked in Under the name Lucid Agents, DayDreams offers a toolkit designed to be a “bring your own framework” while remaining commerce-ready. In sy huidige vrylating sluit Lucid Agents bi-directionele betalingsporsing, aanhoudende opslagbakende (SQLite, in-geheue en Postgres), streng beleid vir inkomende en uitgaande betalings, 'n analitiese module vir finansiële verslaglegging en 'n skeduler vir outomatiese betaalde agent huur. Hierdie vermoëns help teams om agente as verantwoordelike ekonomiese akteurs te bestuur, eerder as as eenmalige skripte. It packages x402 payments, ERC-8004 identity, A2A messaging, and AP2 agent-to-agent settlement into a single TypeScript framework, enabling agents to charge, pay, and communicate with each other out of the box. In a minimal setup, a small Lucid Agent Kit snippet starts an HTTP server for web access, wires x402 payment handling so the agent can get paid, and creates a wallet object for outbound payments. It also generates an A2A-compatible `agent.json` card so other agents can discover it, understand its interface, and call it as part of larger workflows. In practice, it focuses on USDC flows on x402, using the Coinbase Developer Platform as the primary stablecoin rail. Recent objectives include: A framework-agnostic wallet SDK to interact with x402. A refactored type system to improve maintainability and avoid circular dependencies. A stronger build system and code quality improvements. Foundations for bidirectional A2A communication between agents. Developers can already spin up: 'N Next.js-agent gekabeld in ERC-8004 en x402. A TanStack Start agent. A Hono agent. Meer integrasies word beplan. A public tutorial shows how to launch a full-stack TanStack agent in a few minutes, with x402 payments and ERC-8004 trust integrated, so the agent is “paid, verified, and production-ready” from the first deploy. The aim is to keep business logic and framework choice flexible, while Lucid Agents provides a consistent layer for payments, identity, and networking. Reliability and Router v2: from per-request to balance-based flows One recurring theme around x402 is that pure per-request payment is not always enough for robust systems. Lucid’s design acknowledges that: Inference calls and other services can involve many hops. Each payment transaction is a potential failure point. Agente-werkstrome kan verskeie hulpbronne opeenvolgend of parallel aanroep. Om dit aan te spreek, werk die span aan 'n router v2-ontwerp waar agente salarisse vir dienste hou. Instead of a transaction for every individual request, agents draw down from pre-funded balances. This reduces transaction count and lowers the chance of partial failures in long chains of calls, which is important in agentic design. True agent autonomy depends on permissionless payment rails, because an agent must be able to hold balances, allocate budgets, and settle with other agents or services without a human having to click through each transaction. Hulle beskryf ook die kompleksiteit van netwerk in 'n ten volle agentistiese, multi-bron omgewing: Networking between resources. Networking between facilitators and resources. Interne netwerke binne hulpbronne. Client-side networking and streaming. Kliënt-server netwerk en streaming. Elke laag kan timeouts en sinkronisatiewe probleme invoer, veral in 'n gedecentraliseerde instelling. Die boodskap is dat die x402-ekosisteem nog beduidende ingenieurswerk nodig het om ten volle robuust te wees, en Lucid se padkaart word gevorm rondom daardie konkrete mislukkingsmodusse. From SEO to AEO: optimizing for agents instead of humans A key conceptual shift in this ecosystem is the move from SEO to what some builders already call AEO. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tunes content for human-facing search engines. AEO (Agent Engine Optimization) stel dienste vir outonome agente aan, sodat masjienkliënte betroubaar eindpunte kan ontdek, antwoorde kan ondersoek en besluit wat om te bel en wat om te betaal. In 'n x402 / ERC-8004 wêreld: Agents chain paid APIs in real time, turning web endpoints into billable microservices. SaaS-rekening wat gebaseer is op statische abonnees, begin verouderd lyk. Verskaffers stel reaksie skema's, vertraging, pryse en bewyse hooks in plaas van landing bladsy visuele. ERC-8004-agentkaarte help om spam te filter deur masjiene gestruktureerde inligting te gee oor wie hulle betaal. Facilitators that see many requests and outcomes can evolve into discovery and reputation layers for AEO. A simple rule captures the design: x402 lets a service charge. ERC-8004 helps prove that the service is worth paying for. This is aligned with the idea that search will shift from an ad-driven human interface to an agent layer that ranks and pays based on performance and reputation. Privaatheid, z402, en Starknet Die stapel het ook oop vrae rondom privaatheid. Vir sommige gebruik gevalle, openbare betalings en sigbare verbruik patrone is goed. Vir ander, eindpunt gebruik en pryse moet privaat bly. One of the directions in the DayDreams context is private x402 transactions on Starknet, sometimes referred to as z402: Private micropayments for x402-style endpoints. A path where agents can pay and prove settlement without exposing all details publicly. This is still early work, but it shows that the stack is not limited to fully transparent flows. Where the value in x402 is likely to appear Several themes around value capture appear repeatedly: Consumer products built on curated x402 resources, where users do not see chains, only balances and services. Platforms for creators and builders that want to monetize APIs, content, or agents without ad networks. Kuratiewe en ontdekkingslae, soos XGATE, waar agente en eindpunte ontmoet. From the user’s perspective, the expectation is that “on-chain” will become invisible: Apps sal of stablecoins aanvaar of betaalde eindpunte op 'n agentvriendelike manier blootstel. Of hulle sal voel soos oorlewende produkte, gekoppel aan abonnementsvorme en kaartbetalings. Makro agtergrond en huidige stadium Die breër omgewing word gevorm deur: Grote kapitaaluitgawes in AI-infrastruktuur. Strong government support is needed because AI is now tied to economic competitiveness. Predictions that agents could power very large segments of future economic activity. Within that context, on-chain rails are among the few ways individuals and small teams can participate without relying on large intermediaries. Standards such as x402 and ERC-8004, and platforms built on top of them, target that space. Op die oomblik: , with mainstream players such as Google moving toward agent payments. Stablecoin rails like x402 have reached an inflection point LLM gebruikersinterface is wydverspreid, maar die meeste agente bly nader aan skripte as tot ten volle outonome ekonomiese akteurs.In die praktyk, die meeste produksie vloei lyk nog steeds mens-geïnitieerde aksies wat agent werkstrome en x402-styl betalings in die agtergrond, eerder as ten volle outonome agente wat spandeer sonder uitdruklike gebruikersbedoel. Die volgende 24 maande sal bepaal watter stapels maak agenthandel prakties in produksie. Conclusion The move from ad-funded pages to paid APIs and agent commerce is already underway. Standards such as AP2, x402, A2A, and ERC-8004 define how agents speak, pay, and prove their work. DayDreams.Systems positions itself as one of several platforms that try to close that gap. It wraps these protocols into a developer-facing toolkit and runtime so agents can not only exist, but also earn, pay, and be discovered as part of a larger network. At the same time, other projects work on adjacent pieces of the stack. Some focus on alternative payment protocols for API metering or streaming. Others provide general-purpose agent frameworks, orchestration engines, or marketplaces where tools and models expose paid endpoints. There are also discovery and reputation layers that index agents and services atop ERC-8004-style registries or proprietary identity systems. Sodra betalings op die protokolvlak programmeerbaar is, begin die internet self anders te gedra. Elke API-oproep kan 'n duidelike, masjienleesbare prys hê. Elke werkstroom kan in werklike tyd beëindig. Agente, dienste en selfs klein menslike span kan deelneem aan dieselfde ekonomiese stof sonder om deur 'n enkele platform of mark te gaan. If the agent economy grows anywhere near current expectations, more platforms will emerge, compete, and converge on standards that let agents treat the internet as a set of fair, billable resources rather than a free-for-all for scrapers. In that world, the critical question is simple: **Can an agent reach your value through a clean API, pay for it over x402, and know, via ERC-8004, who it is dealing with? \ If the answer is yes, you are already aligned with the following central crypto narrative. You are also prepared for the next version of the internet. The version in which, by the end of 2026, you will be paying these AI agents to do the job for you, and they will also be able to make you a fortune if appropriately used.
