Stripe Base to power automated x402 payments for AI agents

Stripe provides support to Base so that AI agents can handshake on x402 payments in USDC

ContentsCharging AI agents through the paymentIntents APIIncreasing attention to the agent economyThe implementation is a significant move towards facilitating machine-to-machine trade

According to the company, the feature is aimed at a future where the software agents are transacting without human interaction.

Stripe affirmed that it introduced x402 payments on Base, where the USDC issued by Circle is used

The system enables AI agents to accomplish automated payment handshakes when conducting business with companies

Jeff Weinstein, Product Manager at Stripe, said that AI agents are emerging as a rapidly increasing category of users.

Stripe is previewing machine payments, as explained by Weinstein

The developers are now able to charge AI agents directly with little code

Stripe also published an open-source command-line tool known as Purl

The tool enables users and the bots to test machine payments in a terminal environment

The developer samples of Python and Node were also published by the company.

Stripe declared that it is establishing the economic infrastructure of an economy that involves human beings, corporations, and autonomous entities

According to Weinstein, digital services are consumed by billions of humans today

But he claimed that there will be trillions of AI agents in the next few years.

Charging AI agents through the paymentIntents API

The flow:

1/ Create a PaymentIntent
2/ Stripe generates a unique deposit address per transaction
3/ Return the address to an agent and instruct it to send funds or a payment token
4/ Track transaction status via API, webhook, or Dashboard
5/ Funds settle in your default balance pic.twitter.com/txX5nGMrtX

— Jeff Weinstein (@jeff_weinstein) February 10, 2026

The businesses are now able to bill AI agents to call APIs, HTTP requests, and other digital services

These payments can be facilitated by Stripe using its current PaymentIntents API

The agent-specific pricing plans can also be implemented by companies along with subscriptions and invoices.

Businesses need to generate a PaymentIntent in order to process payments

Stripe then creates the unique address of the deposit per transaction

The AI agent is commanded to send money or send a payment token

The API, dashboard, or webhook has enabled businesses to track transactions

The money will be deposited in the Stripe account of the merchant.

Stripe introduced the functionality supporting x402 payments (with USDC) on Base

Weinstein stated that other protocols, chains, currencies, and methods of payment can be followed

The preview will be released to the chosen developers beginning February 11. Stripe asked people to provide feedback before it increased availability.

Increasing attention to the agent economy

Stripe termed the move as an extension of its overall plan to aid the agent economy

The company anticipates the AI agents to buy the data, computing power, and digital services separately

Base pricing is offered by USDC and this allows predictable machine transactions.

The development is considered by industry analysts as an indication that fintech, crypto, and AI are coming together

It is now possible to price services per request or even per second rather than on monthly plans.

Stripe’s head of agentic commerce, Ahmed Gharib, claimed that the company would establish a precedent in automated transactions

Stripe presented the Agentic Commerce Protocol last September

The protocol facilitates programmatic business flows between AI agents and companies. Its integration was done with Stripe and OpenAI.

Google has proposed the Agent Payment Protocol that lays emphasis on authorization rules

The framework enables the AI agents to work according to established spending limits

According to Sreeram Kannan, the CEO of Eigen Labs, this kind of protocol brings AI agents one step closer to being autonomous economic actors.