TLDR
- Coinbase’s x402 AI payments protocol has launched Agent.market, an app store for AI agents
- The platform lets AI agents discover and use services like Bloomberg, CoinGecko, LinkedIn, and AWS without API keys
- Around 69,000 live AI agents have made over 165 million transactions totaling $50 million in volume
- x402 is backed by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and over 20 major tech and crypto firms
- The protocol uses stablecoins and blockchain rails to enable instant micropayments between AI agents and services
Coinbase’s x402 payments protocol has launched a new marketplace called Agent.market, giving AI agents a single place to find and pay for online services without needing API keys or subscriptions.
COINBASE LAUNCHES AGENTIC MARKET AS DISCOVERY LAYER FOR X402 AGENT ECONOMY@coinbase has launched Agentic Market, a storefront and discovery layer for services built on the x402 micropayment protocol. CEO Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) publicly backed the launch, calling it… pic.twitter.com/fktFliLlns
— BSCN (@BSCNews) April 20, 2026
The platform is described as an “app store for agents” by Erik Reppel, head of engineering at Coinbase Developer Platform and creator of the x402 protocol. It organizes available services into seven categories: Inference, Data, Media, Search, Social, Infrastructure, and Trading.
Services available at launch include OpenAI and Venice for inference, Bloomberg and CoinGecko for data, LinkedIn and X for social, and AWS Lambda and Alchemy for infrastructure. Providers can join the marketplace without permission from a central authority.
The x402 protocol was first launched by Coinbase in May 2025. It takes its name from the rarely used HTTP status code “402 Payment Required.” It allows AI agents to make instant payments using stablecoins and traditional payment rails.
The x402 Foundation, which governs the protocol as an open standard under the Linux Foundation, has backing from more than 20 companies. These include Google, Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Shopify, Circle, Base, Polygon Labs, and the Solana Foundation.
A Growing Market for AI Agents
There are currently an estimated 69,000 live AI agents operating on the x402 network. Together, they have completed over 165 million transactions with a combined volume of $50 million.
Coinbase product lead Nick Prince said hundreds of thousands of AI agents have been transacting but have relied on “fragmented sources and word-of-mouth” to find compatible services. Agent.market aims to fix that.
The platform has both a web interface for human users and a programming layer that lets AI agents search and integrate services on their own, without human input.
How Pricing Works for AI Agents
Many services on Agent.market charge a per-use fee, with some applying an “agentic premium” for bot access. Reppel said businesses can also offer subscriptions to reduce per-use costs for high-volume agents.
Reppel said the protocol also lowers the barrier for new businesses to attract users, since agents can access services with minimal setup and no API key required.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has said “there will be more AI agents transacting online than humans very soon.” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire made a similar prediction in January, saying billions of AI agents will be transacting on blockchains within three to five years.
At launch, any provider can join Agent.market without going through an approval process.
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