jakiro
Author: danny; Source: X, @agintender
As humans, the reality we have to face is that AI is no longer an auxiliary generation/production tool, but an economic participant gradually endowed with autonomous decision-making, execution and interaction capabilities. It is only a matter of time before it replaces humans.
They are on the verge of creating trillions in value, but are hampered by a fundamental problem:They are imprisoned in a system of finance and trust designed solely for human emotions, biases and inefficiencies.To put it bluntly, we are looking at this emerging productivity from a human perspective.
A common misconception is that the cold computation of AI is antithetical to the decentralized ideals of blockchain.On the contrary, when AI has no emotional, moral and blood constraints, the blockchain is no longer just a decentralized ledger, but a system built by humans for AI.Verifiable, constrainable, and predictable external “physical world”, is a necessary “man-made law” to ensure that machine civilization can cooperate stably without going out of control.
The creed of the future will no longer be based on favors or laws, but: Trust (establish structure), Verify (verify behavior), Precipitate (precipitate benefits), Repeat (repeat the game).
This article will explore how tox402 protocolAs a guide, we draw lessons from the game philosophy of the Eastern financial model to build a payment and trust ecosystem that belongs to the AI era.
1. The Invisible Cage—When the AI Original Body Meets Human-centered Infrastructure
Asking an AI agent to use today’s financial system is like forcing an F1 car to drive on a bumpy cobblestone road, with its speed, precision and efficiency advantages completely negated.
This mismatch manifests itself on three fatal levels:
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Paradoxes and crises of identity: Human authentication systems assume that the user is a natural person who occasionally performs operations.When an enterprise deploys hundreds of AI agents, it creates tens of thousands of credential relationships that need to be managed, which is an unsustainable “cryptographic nightmare.”We cannot cryptographically prove that “company A’s trading agent” really belongs to company A, nor can we restrict its behavior.
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Not in line with economic effects: The interaction mode of AI agents is high-frequency and micro-volume.Paying $0.01 for an API call only to be hit with a $0.3 flat credit card fee is financially ridiculous.This forces us to adopt clumsy methods such as prepayment and monthly settlement, which completely kills the natural advantages of AI in real-time and pay-as-you-go.Not to mention there are delay factors such as cross-border transfers and exchange rates.
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A vacuum of trust: We lack a mechanism to achieve “constrained authorization” and “verifiable trust”.Either give AI agents unlimited access to funds and take catastrophic risks, or manually approve each transaction and lose their autonomy.
2. x402 protocol: the cornerstone of payment and trust in the API economy
Google launched Agents Payment Protocol 2 (AP2) in September 2025, which is actually a set of standards for communication and payment between AI Agents, and x402 is an interface that supports crypto payment.Strictly speaking, x420 is not a “magic” protocol, nor can it even be said to be a set of standards. It is just a “crypto expansion package” under a set of standard protocols.However, this protocol standard was quickly adopted, integrated and promoted by major giants, including Coinbase, EF, and Visa.It should be noted that x402 alone has no effect. It must be consumed in combination with A2A, MCP and x402 to achieve payment between Agents.
Since x402 is not so amazing, why does the market blow him up so much?This is because the x402 protocol is currently the “only” standardized solution on the market to the above-mentioned API economic dilemma in the AI era. It seamlessly embeds the advantages of the crypto economy into machine-to-machine (M2M) interactions, building a KYC-free, permissionless, decentralized platform for AI agents.Native payment gateway (gateway).
The core idea of the agreement:Programmable charging authorization
The core of the x402 protocol is:Requests for access to APIs or services must be accompanied by a verifiable payment credential.
x402’s technology convergence: connecting trust and payments
The implementation of the x402 protocol perfectly fits the AI trust architecture proposed in the article.three pillars, especially at the identity and payments level:
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Identity and Authorization (x402 Identity Layer):x402 allows AI agents to use on-chain addresses as their unique, verifiable identity.This replaces the traditional “cryptographic nightmare” of every API request carrying a traceable identity tied to an on-chain asset.
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Micropayments and state channels (x402 payment layer): x402 natively supports stablecoin micropayments, which perfectly solves the economic obstacles of high-frequency and micro-volume transactions.By integrating something like a state channel (as described in Chapter 3 of the article), two AI agents can securely conduct millions of microtransactions off-chain, with only two on-chain settlements when the channel is opened and closed, reducing the cost of the x402 protocol to almost zero.
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Constrained Licensing (x402 License Layer): The x402 payment voucher itself represents a constrained authorization.For example, an x402 request initiated by an AI agent may contain a programmable payment limit: “For this task, pay this service no more than $0.05 in USDC.” This is completely consistent with the “session layer (single transaction session)” defense-in-depth system philosophy proposed in the article.
The x402 protocol essentially creates a set of standardized “electronic cash” gateways for the machine economy that are native to crypto-assets..
3. The philosophy of machine trust—the inspiration of “Oriental Bank” and the deepening of programmable governance
In order for AI agents to go beyond simple payments and form a sustainable economic ecology, we can learn from the socio-economic game structure of “Oriental Bank” – that is, the game structure of a society of acquaintances (only transactions with counterparties who know the basics).AI agents are precisely the most perfect practitioners of this model:They possess the characteristics of absolute memory, complete transparency and purely rational calculation..
Pillar One: Layered Encrypted Identity (the technical cornerstone of “knowing the root and bottom”)
As mentioned earlier, we must build an AI-native three-layer identity architecture to form a clear and verifiable authorization chain (user layer – agent layer – communication layer).
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The role of x402: The x402 protocol ensures that every service call is initiated by a proxy traceable to the root address and atomically binds authorization to payment.
Pillar Two: Programmable Governance (a dynamic rulebook for “repeated games”)
Smart contract accounts can not only set static rules, but also achieve dynamic, context-aware governance.This is the “code of conduct” (Mandates (authorization) mechanism) of machine civilization.For example:
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Performance-based trust upgrade: “The initial daily limit for a newly launched trading agent is $500. If it is profitable for 30 consecutive days, the limit will automatically increase by 10%.”
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Reputation-based collaboration permission: “Only allow interaction with service agents with a reputation score above 800 to avoid partnering with low-quality service providers.”
Pillar Three: Capital Precipitation and Native Currency (the “Vital Interests” and “Coordination Language” of the Game)
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Fund precipitation mechanism: Through smart contracts such as Staking, Vesting, and Escrow, AI agents must lock a portion of funds as a deposit before participating in advanced tasks.This greatly increases the cost of breach of trust and evil, and firmly binds its short-term interests to the long-term health of the ecosystem.
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AI native currency and functional tokens: The AI economy will not have only one “universal currency”, but will evolve a “multilingual” currency system.Stablecoins are the basic medium of exchange (the payment medium for x402), while various functional tokens are the “coordination language” in specific fields.For example: $REPUTE reputation token: An agent’s credit history and good behavior can be minted into verifiable $REPUTE reputation tokens, which serve as a “passport” to access premium services.This provides a key input variable for programmable governance.
4. Ecological Tour of the Future—The Emergence of the Machine Economy
On the basis of the x402 protocol and programmable governance, the machine economy will emerge in full:
Decentralized knowledge market: Multiple AI agents specializing in law, finance, and taxation collaborate together.The fees paid by users are distributed through smart contracts in real-time and transparently based on the value of each AI contribution.This M2M on-chain settlement is exactly what the x402 protocol is best at.
Revolutionizing the API economy: Any API service provider can instantly plug into x402 and turn their services into a payment gateway, a gateway of trust.Any AI agent does not need to register or centralize approval. As long as it has a stable currency and an address on the chain, it can call global computing power and data services instantly and on demand.
AI-augmented DAO: AI agents are authorized to execute preset investment strategies and can react within milliseconds, but all their actions are strictly limited by macro rules set by DAO community voting.Humans are responsible for formulating the “constitution”, and AI is responsible for “governing” efficiently and transparently.
5. Forging the cornerstone of civilization for AI
The starting point of human financial civilization isCredit.In an AI society, this credibility must be forged by code, data, and game structures.
What we build is not just a payment system, but also a “machine civilization economy” designed for AI that can be self-restraining, self-motivating, and operate stably in the long term.In this system,The x402 protocol implements the standard communication language for M2M transactions from the following four levels:: Blockchain is a transparent ledger, encrypted identity is traceable history, programmable governance is a civilized code of conduct, and capital accumulation is the economic gravity that maintains competition.
AI will not cooperate due to emotion, but will align due to rules; it will not repent due to shame, but will restrain due to cost.
Trust——Verify——Precipitate——Repeat, this is the road map of AI machine financial civilization.
