- Ripple has become a Premier Member of the new x402 Foundation in order to develop open standards for AI agents.
- Major players like AWS, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Google, Coinbase, and others have joined the foundation to create internet native payments for the AI economy.
- Ripple revealed its support after the Linux Foundation announced the operational launch of the x402 Foundation.
On July 14, Ripple, a blockchain-based FinTech company, announced that it is joining x402 Foundation as a Premier Member during its operational launch, along with other members like Amazon Web Services (AWS), American Express, Circle, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Fiserv, Google, Mastercard, Monad Foundation, MoonPay, and many others.
Ripple to Support x402 Foundation to Develop Open Standards for AI Agents
Ripple will play a major role in building open standards for agentic payments, which are automated transactions executed by AI agents. The foundation, hosted by the Linux Foundation, is expected to develop HTTP-based payment protocols. This payment protocol will allow machines to exchange value as easily as they currently exchange data.
The announcement comes after the Linux Foundation announced the operational launch of the x402 Foundation.
Markus Infanger, Senior Vice President of RippleX at Ripple, said, “As AI agents begin to take on more of the transaction lifecycle, they will need a way to pay that is as fast and reliable as the way they already exchange data. Open standards like x402 help lay the foundation for trusted, interoperable machine-to-machine payments.
We’ve been building the tools and infrastructure needed to support that future on the XRP Ledger, including support for x402 that enables agents to transact using XRP and RLUSD today. Alongside the x402 Foundation, we’re committed to helping ensure those standards work consistently across the industry.”
In the official announcement, the Ripple team mentioned that AI agents need payment systems that match the speed and reliability of data exchange. The XRP Ledger (XRPL) is already supporting x402 transactions by using XRP and Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin. It has already processed more than 1.2 million AI agent transactions on the network, thanks to fast finality and low fees that XRPL provides.
Ripple is planning to contribute to both the technical development and governance of the foundation.
What is the x402 Foundation?
The x402 Foundation is the industry-led organization that aims to develop and govern the x402 protocol, an open standard for embedding payments directly into web interactions. The protocol was originally contributed by Coinbase and initially developed with Stripe and Cloudflare.
The protocol allows AI agents, APIs, and applications to transact value without requiring any traditional accounts or logins. It is blockchain-agnostic but also supports major networks, including those compatible with the XRP Ledger.
The x402 Foundation will help boost the adoption of machine-to-machine (M2M) payments, which is becoming increasingly important as AI automates more economic activity. It will work under transparent Linux Foundation governance to ensure openness and collaboration across payments, cloud, fintech, and blockchain sectors.
Jim Zemlin, CEO of the Linux Foundation, stated in the press release, “AI agents and automated systems are becoming active participants in the global economy, yet they have lacked a native, secure way to transact. The operational launch of the x402 Foundation marks a vital milestone in establishing an open, community-governed standard for payments over HTTP. By bringing together leading companies across finance, technology and more, we’re ensuring that the payment layer of the internet remains neutral, highly interoperable and ready to support digital commerce.”
As a Premier Member, Ripple will provide its support to the foundation with expertise in cross-border payments and blockchain efficiency. It is actively integrating x402 support on the XRP Ledger. This infrastructure will allow AI agents to pay with XRP or RLUSD.
Amid the boom in digital payments and artificial intelligence sectors, AI agents are handling tasks like invoicing, purchasing, or settlements without human input.
According to the Swyftx report, AI-based microbusinesses and freelancers could add $262 billion to annual stablecoin payment volume by 2033. This represents one-third of a $775 billion AI-native cohort.
