Coinbase's x402 protocol, launched in May 2025, is an open-source web payment standard that lets AI agents and human users pay with stablecoins directly over the internet. By embedding onchain payment requests into HTTP interactions, it enables fast, low-cost micropayments across networks like Base, Solana and Ethereum without traditional processors. Backed by firms including Cloudflare, Circle, Stripe and Amazon Web Services, x402 is already handling hundreds of millions of transactions for use cases ranging from pay-per-inference compute to metered web content.

Digital asset treasury companies are publicly listed firms that accumulate crypto on their balance sheets, offering stockholders indirect exposure. The model began in 2020 with Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy) and has since expanded to 200+ companies holding assets like BTC, ETH, and SOL. These vehicles differ from ETFs, use leverage, and trade at premiums or discounts to NAV.