Coinbase's x402 Payment Protocol Sparks Machine Economy Speculation

Crypto investor Marco Salzmann has highlighted an intriguing connection between Coinbase and Hedera (HBAR), going beyond the exchange's support for HBAR trading and custody. The key lies in x402, the open payments protocol originally developed by Coinbase, which Hedera has integrated with.

x402 enables payments to be made as part of an internet request, eliminating the need for traditional checkout processes. This technology is particularly interesting for the growing population of autonomous software on the internet.

Hedera's implementation of x402 allows applications and AI agents to make payments using digital currencies like HBAR through ordinary web interactions. Salzmann argues that this combination can be seen as several separate layers: Coinbase → x402 payment standard → Hedera settlement → HBAR/digital assets → autonomous AI agents.