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x402.org logged about 75.41M transactions and $24.24M volume in the 30 days ending 24 August 2026, with typical tickets under $0.50. Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP) says its Facilitator has processed more than 100 million transactions and about $28M volume across Base and Solana.
Sellers who wire HTTP 402 first and invent price later still lose money on fees.
Price an x402 API in USDC by matching scheme (exact, upto, or batch-settlement) to ticket size, then clearing the CDP Facilitator’s first-1,000-free / $0.001-per-onchain-tx economics so settlement cost stays a small share of revenue.
This is the seller pricing decision. How to accept x402 USDC payments from AI agents is the wiring guide.
Key Takeaways
- Price is the
acceptsscheme plus USDC amount, network, andpayTo— not a Stripe SKU alone. - CDP Facilitator: first 1,000 onchain txs/month free, then $0.001 per onchain tx; verification is always free.
- On EVM use
exact,upto, orbatch-settlement; Solana supportsexactonly. - Prefer Base mainnet (
eip155:8453) and Circle native USDC at0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913. - Tickets at or under $0.001 need
batch-settlementor they can zero out after the free tier. - Floor math: facilitator fee ÷ ticket ≤ a written margin band before you go live.
- Test on Base Sepolia, then cut facilitator URL and CAIP-2 together for mainnet.
- Do not underprice to “win agents” without KYA and spend-limit checks on the buyer side.
What “price” means on x402
On x402, price is not a catalog sticker. It is the payment instruction you advertise when an unpaid request hits HTTP 402 Payment Required.
Each accepts entry lists scheme, price (USDC units the facilitator understands, often $-prefixed), CAIP-2 network, and payTo. The agent pays that instruction; a facilitator verifies and settles; then your resource returns.
If the scheme and amount do not fit your cost of compute plus facilitator settlement, you are selling unpaid work with a receipt.
Choose the scheme (exact vs upto vs batch-settlement)
CDP’s Facilitator docs (as of September 2026) list three EVM schemes and one Solana scheme.
| Scheme | What the buyer authorizes | Settlement shape | Cost implication after free tier |
|---|---|---|---|
exact | Fixed USDC ticket | One onchain settle per accepted payment | $0.001 Facilitator fee per paid call once past 1,000 onchain txs/month |
upto | Max USDC; you settle actual usage | One onchain settle per accepted payment | Same $0.001 per settle; useful when usage varies inside a cap |
batch-settlement | Vouchers verified offchain | One onchain claim can cover thousands of payments | Spreads the $0.001 fee across the batch; verification stays free |
Solana (solana:5eykt4UsFv8P8NJdTREpY1vzqKqZKvdp) supports exact only in the CDP table. If you need batch economics, stay on an EVM network CDP lists with batch-settlement — Base (eip155:8453) is the default Stablecoin Insider recommends for Circle native USDC.
Floor math: facilitator fee vs ticket size
CDP prices Facilitator usage on onchain activity, not on every verify call. Verification is always free.
The published tier is:
| Tier | Monthly onchain transactions | Cost per onchain transaction |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Up to 1,000 | $0.00 |
| Usage-based | Above 1,000 | $0.001 |
With exact or upto, each accepted payment is one onchain settle. A $0.001 ticket that costs $0.001 to settle after the free tier is a 100% Facilitator take before gas, infra, or compute.
Write a floor before you publish accepts:
- Estimate paid calls per month after the first 1,000 free settles.
- Multiply excess settles by $0.001 for
exact/upto, or by ($0.001 ÷ payments per claim) forbatch-settlement. - Require ticket ≥ N × that unit cost, where N is your written margin multiple (for example 10× so Facilitator is ≤10% of ticket).
Sub-$0.001 tickets almost always need batch-settlement on EVM once you leave the free tier. Deposits, refunds, and withdrawals each count as their own onchain transaction in CDP’s model — budget those too.
Set the accepts fields
Lock four fields to treasury policy, then ship middleware.
- scheme —
exactfor fixed SKUs;uptofor metered calls with a hard max;batch-settlementfor high-frequency sub-cent API hits on EVM. - price — USDC string the SDK examples understand (for example
"$0.01"). Keep the advertised max inside your risk policy. - network — Prefer Base mainnet CAIP-2
eip155:8453. Confirm Circle’s Base USDC at0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913via Circle’s USDC contract addresses and how to check the official USDC or USDT contract. - payTo — An address your treasury controls on that same network. Do not mix a Solana payee into an EVM accept.
Point agents at how to set spend limits on an AI agent USDC wallet so buyer-side caps match the upto max you advertise.
Test, then mainnet cutover
Do not invent mainnet price on a cold stack.
- Gate one route on Base Sepolia (
eip155:84532) with a tinyexactprice. - Settle through the test facilitator path your stack documents (x402.org facilitator is for testnet only).
- Flip facilitator URL and CAIP-2 together to CDP production (
https://api.cdp.coinbase.com/platform/v2/x402) and Base mainnet when you cut over. - Confirm the first live hash: token contract, amount, and
payTobefore you book revenue.
How to test an AI agent USDC payment before going live is the rehearsal checklist. How to verify an AI agent before accepting USDC is the KYA (know-your-agent) gate before you treat a repeating payer as trusted revenue.
Primary economics source: CDP Facilitator core concepts.
When not to underprice
Skip race-to-zero pricing when any of these hold:
- Ticket ≤ $0.001 on
exact/uptoafter you expect more than 1,000 settles/month. - You have no written N× margin over Facilitator + infra + model cost.
- Buyers are anonymous agents with no spend limit or KYA path.
- You still point production at the testnet facilitator URL.
- Token is a bridged wrapper or clone, not Circle native USDC on the advertised chain.
A cheap accepts line that loses money on every settle is not growth. It is a self-funded denial-of-wallet against your own GPU bill.
Stablecoin Insider's take:
Stablecoin Insider's take: treat Facilitator fee as cost of goods sold, not a rounding error. Prefer Base + native Circle USDC + a scheme that keeps $0.001 settlement well under the ticket — batch-settlement when the API is a firehose of sub-cent calls.
The named downside is structural: settled USDC has no card-network chargeback. Underpricing plus wrong scheme means you deliver the resource and still pay CDP $0.001 per settle after the free tier, with no reverse path when the agent was junk traffic.
FAQ
What is the CDP Facilitator fee in 2026?
Per Coinbase’s Facilitator docs, the first 1,000 onchain Facilitator transactions each month are free, then each additional onchain transaction costs $0.001. Payment verification is always free.
When should sellers use batch-settlement?
Use batch-settlement on supported EVM networks when you expect many small payments and want vouchers verified offchain for free, with one onchain claim covering thousands of payments so the $0.001 fee is spread.
Does Solana support upto and batch-settlement?
In the CDP Facilitator support table as of September 2026, Solana mainnet and Devnet list exact only. For upto or batch-settlement, use a listed EVM network such as Base.
Which USDC contract should Base sellers advertise?
Circle’s native Base USDC mainnet address is 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913. Pair it with CAIP-2 eip155:8453.
How do x402 volume numbers relate to pricing?
x402.org’s ~75.41M txs / $24.24M volume in the 30 days ending 24 August 2026 show a micropayment rail (often sub-$0.50 tickets). That distribution is why fee-aware scheme choice matters more than copying a SaaS monthly plan into accepts.
Is a paid settle enough to book revenue?
No. Confirm the settlement hash, Circle official contract, amount, and payTo, then apply any KYA policy you require.
Settlement proves USDC moved; it does not prove the agent is a counterparty you want.
Next step Monday
Pick one gated route, write the Facilitator floor math for that ticket, and publish accepts with either a ≥10× margin on exact or batch-settlement if the ticket sits near $0.001. Rehearse on Base Sepolia, cut over facilitator + CAIP-2 together, and verify the first mainnet hash against Circle Base USDC before you open discovery.
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice; no material herein should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and readers should conduct their own independent research or consult a qualified professional.
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