Launching the x402 Foundation with Coinbase, and support for x402 transactions

Cloudflare is partnering with Coinbase to create the x402 Foundation, according to Coinbase. The foundation’s mission is to encourage the adoption of the x402 protocol, an updated framework that lets clients and services exchange value on the web using a common language, with features shipped to allow developers to use x402 in the Agents SDK and MCP integrations, as well as a proposed deferred payment scheme.

The article explains that payments on the web have been designed for humans, but x402 aims to enable machine-to-machine transactions by using the 402 Payment Required status code to initiate payment flows between a client and a resource server. A new deferred payment scheme is proposed for agentic payments that do not require immediate settlement, enabling use with traditional payment rails or stablecoins and decoupling the cryptographic handshake from settlement.

Cloudflare’s x402 playbook includes an x402 playground, where an agent can interact with MCP servers and funded testnet wallets, illustrating how paid and free tools can be accessed and settled in a flexible model. The post notes ongoing collaboration with Coinbase and invites further participation in developing the protocol directly. 23 September 2025.