Looking at x402 from PING: Will it really be like the inscription boom of 2023 this time?

Recently, many people have been discussing the Meme coin PING on the x402 protocol, saying it closely resembles the inscription craze of 2023. But in what ways does it resemble? Will it follow the same old path as the inscription market? My straightforward view is: Yes.

Core Similarity: On-chain Data + Off-chain Interpretation Rights

First, let’s talk about how inscriptions work. Users send transactions to the BTC mainnet, owning specific UTXOs, but the key point here is—the BTC mainnet itself cannot determine whether a transaction is a “true inscription”. This task is delegated to the Ordinals protocol. Ordinals acts like a third-party judge; it scans every transaction on the chain and, according to its own rules (for example, “First is First”), decides which are valid inscriptions. In other words, the on-chain data is just raw data; the true meaning is given by off-chain interpretation rights.

The way PING operates on the Base chain is essentially the same pattern. Users send USDC to an address dynamically returned by x402scan. For the Base chain, this is just a normal ERC20 transfer—nothing special. But the moment this transaction becomes a “mint $PING” is when x402scan, as an indexer, scans and recognizes it—judging which transfers are “valid mints” based on its own rules (1 USDC = 5000 $PING), then records this in an off-chain database, and finally distributes tokens via smart contract.

See, fundamentally, these two things are carved from the same mold.

Where the resemblance lies: The “Powerlessness” of Open Standards

When inscriptions first emerged, the Bitcoin Core team directly opposed them, with a simple reason—this thing just fills the BTC mainnet with dust transactions and has little use. On the x402 protocol, the logic is quite similar.

But here’s an interesting point. The assets held by inscription creators still reside on the BTC mainnet. If inscriptions lose their speculative value, they can be released and some BTC can be recovered. But what about those mint $PING transactions? Those USDC actually go into the Treasury wallet designated by x402scan. The team is crowdfunding and issuing tokens simultaneously, and the x402 protocol is essentially being “freeloaded”.

This may seem unfair, but from another perspective, this is actually a “call to arms”. PING has created a usage scenario for the x402 protocol in this way, and the effect is quite immediate. In a sense, this is also a stress test for the x402 protocol. You could say, PING is a turning point in the x402 narrative, which could lead to subsequent improvements and ecosystem prosperity.

Will it evolve like the inscription market? Yes

The answer is very certain: Yes.

Returning to the previous point, the existence of PING is essentially tied to the x402scan indexer. But the problem is also clear: Assets are custodially held under centralized entities, which contradicts the original intention of the x402 protocol to open payment channels for AI Agents. Moreover, it may not seamlessly integrate with other x402 protocols, and there are no unified standards for minting, transferring, or burning.

Therefore, following the evolution logic of BRC20 → ARC20 → SRC20 → Runes, there will definitely be a bunch of projects claiming to be more “authentic” or more “standard” new “inscriptions”.

Improving custody methods, changing the way transactions mint, obtaining native protocol support… the possibilities are endless. To exaggerate a bit, even if issues arise in the x402scan protocol or the Treasury faces risks, this wave won’t stop. Pandora’s box has already been opened, and there’s no turning back.

Final words

The explosion of the x402 narrative is inevitable. PING is just the starting gun; how the market evolves afterward still has many variables. The above is just a sharing of the logical framework, not investment advice. But frankly, the upcoming hype is worth joining in.