Coinbase has partnered with the Linux Foundation to establish the x402 Foundation, an industry group created to govern the development of a new open internet payments standard. Coinbase contributed the underlying technology to the Linux Foundation to place it under neutral, community-driven oversight. The foundation will steward the x402 protocol, which enables websites and APIs to request and receive payments as part of ordinary web traffic.
The protocol was originally launched in 2025 by Coinbase’s developer platform, reviving the long-dormant HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code. This approach creates a native payment layer for the web, allowing sites and services to request payment directly during standard HTTP interactions before granting access to content. The move effectively embeds payment capability into the fabric of how the web communicates.
Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin said the internet was built on open protocols and that the new foundation would provide a community-governed home for the technology to evolve with transparency and broad participation. Under Linux Foundation governance, the protocol is intended to remain vendor-neutral, supporting accessibility and long-term sustainability. Organizations that contribute to or use the technology are able to join the foundation and help shape its direction.
Coinbase will continue as a founding participant alongside other early industry supporters. Erik Reppel, head of engineering for the Coinbase Developer Platform, confirmed that both Coinbase and Base are among the initial participants backing the foundation’s transition to an open-source model. Members will contribute to governance and help guide the protocol’s future development, according to Reppel.
A broad group of major companies has signed on to support the foundation’s launch, including Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Shopify, Cloudflare, and the Solana Foundation. Google Cloud’s Managing Director for Web3 and Digital Assets, James Tromans, said the shift toward agentic commerce requires cloud infrastructure as open as the protocols it supports. He described Google’s participation as a reinforcement of its commitment to interoperable standards enabling secure, AI-driven transactions.
The Solana Foundation noted that Solana has been among the earliest adopters of x402, accounting for nearly 65% of x402 transaction volume in the current year. Head of AI Growth at the Solana Foundation, Rishin Sharma, said the ecosystem is actively building products around x402 payments and expressed support for expanding pay-per-request models using stablecoins. Developers have also begun experimenting with the protocol in the context of AI agents performing tasks on behalf of users online.
Projects including Sam Altman‘s World are integrating x402 into tools that allow agents to verify they represent real people, while infrastructure initiatives such as MoonPay‘s Open Wallet Standard are adding support for the protocol. Early priorities for the foundation include maintaining interoperability across implementations and supporting developers and merchants building services around the standard. Coinbase Chief Business Officer Shan Aggarwal described x402 as the payment rail needed for a future in which AI agents buy, sell, and transact on behalf of humans without requiring manual confirmation.
Originally reported by Decrypt.
