Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Says X402 Transactions ‘Growing Like Crazy’ As Activity Soars 10,000% In A Month

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has announced that X402, the online payments protocol enabling AI agents to transact over the internet, is experiencing rapid growth. Transactions on the protocol have surged by more than 10,000% within a single month.

When Coinbase initially launched X402 in May, it was described as a protocol that "fixes the internet’s first mistake" by reviving the Hypertext Transfer Protocol 402 of the Internet Communication Protocol to establish a native, seamless payment system for the internet. This protocol allows both AI agents and humans to conduct direct payments in stablecoins while interacting with websites or applications.

Transaction activity on the X402 protocol saw a significant increase in October. Data from Dune Analytics indicates that between October 14 and October 20, the protocol processed 500,000 transactions. This represents a 10,780% rise compared to levels observed four weeks prior.

X402 Sets New Transaction Records

Transaction volume on X402 continued its upward trend this week. On Thursday, the transaction value on the X402 protocol reached a record $332,000. Just 24 hours later, it recorded a new high of 239,505 transactions, according to additional data from Dune Analytics.

"X402 growing like crazy," Armstrong stated in a post on X on October 25.

KuCoin Ventures reported that the X402 payment rail attracted over 19,000 new users in a single day.

CoinGecko Lists X402 Tokens As A New Category

Developers are increasingly utilizing X402's design to launch tokens directly. This has led to a proliferation of X402-powered meme coin launches, as noted by KuCoin Ventures.

The recent surge in X402 meme coins has prompted crypto market tracker CoinGecko to introduce a new category on its platform dedicated to tracking these tokens.

According to CoinGecko, the total market capitalization for X402 meme coins has increased by over 260% in the past 24 hours, currently standing at more than $177.98 million.

Notable performers in the last 24 hours include FREGO, Capminal (CAP), and Karum (KARUM).

FREGO saw a surge of over 152% in the past day, extending its weekly gains to over 321%.

Meanwhile, CAP and KARUM experienced increases of more than 89% in the last 24 hours.

Agentic Transactions Could Reach $30 Trillion By 2030

The surge in X402 activity coincides with venture capital firm a16z's crypto arm highlighting agentic AI in its State of Crypto 2025 report earlier this week.

"Protocol standards such as X402 are emerging as a potential financial backbone for autonomous AI agents, helping them make micro-transactions, access APIs, and settle payments without intermediaries — an economy that Gartner estimates could reach $30 trillion by 2030," the firm stated in its report.

X402's growth also occurs amidst a boom in the stablecoin market, which was influenced by the signing of the GENIUS Act by US President Donald Trump in July.