Coinbase’s AI payments system joins Linux Foundation, gathers support from Google, Stripe, AWS and others

Tech Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Coinbase’s AI payments system joins Linux Foundation, gathers support from Google, Stripe, AWS and others The Coinbase-engineered agentic commerce protocol x402 has garnered support from a long list of big names like Google, Cloudflare and Stripe. By Ian Allison | Edited by Omkar Godbole Apr 2, 2026, 1:00 p.m. Make preferred on Robot girl (Gabriele Malaspina, Unsplash) What to know : An initial governing body, the x402 Foundation, includes internet services firm Cloudflare and payments giant Stripe, with support from a long list of other big players. The open-source consortium also includes initial intent and support being expressed by the likes of Amazon Web Services, American Express, Ant International,Visa and Microsoft. EMBARGO: 9am EST APRIL 2nd Coinbase's AI-focused payment protocol x402 is moving toward becoming an open, standardized infrastructure under the Linux Foundation, the non-profit hub for open-source software development. The move aims to create a community-governed ecosystem for high-frequency, micro transactions that legacy finance can’t efficiently handle. The protocol has formed an initial governing body, the x402 Foundation, that includes internet services firm Cloudflare and payments giant Stripe, with support from a long list of other big players. The industry interest in X402 comes as AI-driven commerce expands. Especially, so-called agentic payments, executed autonomously by AI agents, is a hot topic particularly within certain areas of the crypto industry where the belief is that programmable, blockchain-based micro-payments make the most sense. x402 is designed for these payments. Unlike using ChatGPT as a front-end for a traditional shopping cart, it can handle transactions worth only fractions of a cent at high frequency — something traditional credit card networks struggle to manage. Now, by using the Linux Foundation to scale an open-source ecosystem, x402 aims to tackle potential interoperability issues by creating something like a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for AI agents, in other words a standard technology that encrypts the connection between a web server and a browser. “The internet was built on open protocols," said Jim Zemlin, CEO of the Linux Foundation. “The x402 Foundation will create an open, community-governed home to develop these capabilities in the open, ensuring they evolve with transparency, interoperability, and broad participation across the ecosystem.” Coinbase said in a press release on Thursday that additional membership of the foundation will be comprised of participants from multiple verticals with initial intent and support being expressed by Adyen, Amazon Web Services, American Express, Ampersend.ai , Ant International, Base, Circle, Fiserv Merchant Solutions, Google, KakaoPay, Mastercard, Merit Systems, Microsoft, Polygon Labs, PPRO, Sierra. Shopify, Solana Foundation, Thirdweb, and Visa. “The shift toward agentic commerce requires cloud infrastructure that is as open as the protocols it supports,” said James Tromans, Managing Director, Web3 and Digital Assets, Google Cloud. By joining the x402 Foundation, Google is reinforcing its commitment to interoperable standards that enable secure, AI-driven transactions across platforms.” Coinbase More For You Encryption Supremacy: Zcash and Privacy in the Age of Scale By CoinDesk Research Mar 31, 2026 Commissioned by GenZcash Most crypto privacy models weaken as blockchain data grows. Encryption-based models like Zcash strengthen. CoinDesk Research maps the five privacy approaches and examines the widening gap. Why it matters : As blockchain adoption scales, the metadata available to machine learning models scales with it. Obfuscation-based privacy approaches are structurally degrading as a result. This report provides a comprehensive comparison of all five major crypto privacy architectures and a framework for evaluating which models remain durable as AI capabilities improve. View Full Report More For You Solana DeFi platform Drift confirms 'active attack' as $200M+ leaves platform By Helene Braun | Edited by Nikhilesh De 18 hours ago The platform halted deposits while it investigates suspicious activity and urges users to proceed with caution. What to know : Drift, a Solana-based DeFi platform, said it is investigating "unusual activity" on its protocol and urged users not to deposit funds while the review is underway. The alert sparked speculation across the crypto community, with some users reporting irregular behavior in their positions on the platform. Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz... 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