Block opens up to AI agents, paying Bitcoin through Lightning Network on the x402 protocol.

- What's going on?

Block (developers of Square and Cash APP ) announced its membership in the x402 Foundation, adding support for the Bitcoin Lightning network to the X402 payment protocol on Thursday.

What is x402 and why does it matter?

x402 is an open payment standard designed to allowAI agents or programsAPI that act on behalf of humans to automatically pay for services such as access fees,API data charges, and various digital services without requiring human approval each time.

Why Bitcoin Lightning?

Block notes that Lightning is best suited for low-value but high-volume simultaneous payments, which are a key business feature of "agentic commerce", or transactions whereAI an agent is the operator.AI If the agent has to pay retail service charges thousands of times per second, the fees and speed of traditional payment systems will be obstacles.

"Bringing Lightning to x402 is a tangible step towards making Bitcoin money for everyday use, both for people and the agents who work on their behalf", said Steve Lee, head of Block's development unit Spiral Bitcoin .

Who's behind the x402?

The x402 Foundation was launched last April under the Linux Foundation, with major backers including Google , Microsoft and Amazon Web Services as well as crypto companies such as Coinbase and Solana .

The move also comes amid Block's participation in the Universal Commerce Protocol, a project aimed at developing mobile commerceAI for small businesses.

What are the implications for general users and the Asian region?

Although this is still in the infrastructure stage, if x402 standards are actually implemented, ordinary users may see a fully functional self-paying Assistant with Lightning and digital currencies as its backbone, which will accelerate the use of crypto as "real money" rather than profit. Users in Thailand should also follow the SEC (Thailand) 's regulatory framework related to digital payment services.

In the same vein, Visa has also partnered with Upbit 's parent company in stablecoin payments and cross-trading,[4] reflecting that competition for a modern payment standard[5] is expanding rapidly.