We analyzed every x402 transaction in December 2025.
63 million payments. $7.5M in USDC. 1,100+ projects.
This is the first real-world proof that AI agents can pay for services at scale.
Here's what we found 🧵
📄 blockrun.ai/state-x402-202…
📊 blockrun.ai/state-x402-202…
Quick history lesson:
HTTP 402 "Payment Required" was defined in 1997. Never implemented.
Why? A $0.01 payment on credit cards costs $0.30 in fees.
That's 3,000% overhead. Micropayments were dead on arrival.
Until stablecoins.
December 2025 by the numbers:
• 63M transactions
• $7.5M USDC
• 64K unique buyers
• 10K unique sellers
• $0.12 avg transaction
For context: Visa's minimum viable transaction is ~$15.
x402 is processing payments 100x smaller. At scale.
The ecosystem exploded:
• 1,100+ independent projects
• 4,800+ mainnet endpoints
• 6 active facilitators
Most providers are small. No dominant player.
Translation: the land grab is happening NOW.
76% of services charge $0.10 or less.
The sweet spot? $0.01-$0.10 (69% of all services)
This is the micropayment zone—where credit cards literally cannot compete.
AI agents optimize for efficiency. They'll pay per-call forever.
What are people actually building?
🥇 Data services: 31%
🥈 AI/LLM: 25%
🥉 Blockchain: 15%
Not memes. Not speculation.
Real infrastructure: APIs, analytics, inference.
The "serious money" is already here.
Base vs Solana—who's winning?
• Base: 53% (developer home base)
• Solana: 37% (production runtime)
Base has the Coinbase ecosystem. Solana has the speed.
Pick based on your use case.
"But isn't it all fake volume?"
Let's be honest:
Artemis found 47% of transactions are leaderboard farming.
BUT—that's only 14% of dollar volume.
Smaller transactions = cleaner money.
The micropayment thesis is proven.
The billion-dollar problem nobody's solved:
What happens when an agent pays wrong?
x402 nailed "how do agents pay?"
It hasn't solved:
• Agent identity (KYA)
• Reputation systems
• Dispute resolution
Whoever solves this wins.
If I were building in this space:
1. Trust infrastructure (identity + disputes)
2. High-value data services (don't race to $0.01)
3. Discovery tools (help agents find services)
4. Cross-chain bridges
Market is early. Fragmented. Perfect timing.
63M transactions in one month. Average: $0.12.
The protocol works.
The economics work.
The builders are here.
The only question: what are you going to build on top?
Full report:
Data from @x402scan + @BlockRunAI blockrun.ai/state-x402-202…
Big thanks to everyone who helped review and refine this report📄 :
@PayAINetwork @notorious_d_e_v @0xfishylosopher @abdulalali @joenrv @x402intern @opwizardx @jessepollak and all others..
Your feedback made this 10x better.
If you're building in the x402 ecosystem or have data to share, DMs are open.blockrun.ai/state-x402-202…
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