L402 Website Launched by Lightning Labs
Lightning Labs has launched a dedicated website for L402, a protocol that enables AI agents to pay Lightning invoices without human intervention. This move marks a significant step towards machine-to-machine commerce on the Lightning Network.
L402 is already in use inside Lightning Loop, a non-custodial swap service for Bitcoin and Lightning. The new site positions the protocol as a rail for AI agents to access API endpoints using bitcoin.
According to Lightning Labs, L402 allows services to charge for API endpoints in a way that's easy for AI agents to participate. The mechanism reuses HTTP's 402 status code, which is used when a client requests a gated endpoint and the server responds with an invoice.
The protocol has been gaining attention as several firms build payment tooling aimed at autonomous software agents rather than human users. Coinbase's x402 protocol, for example, uses the same HTTP status code on Ethereum-based rails and has received backing from major players like Google, Stripe, and Visa.