The x402 has made another breakthrough: it has expanded from AI payments to robot payments!

The Web3 industry is developing too fast; new things emerge every day.

Author: Yue Xiaoyu

The Web3 industry is developing so rapidly, with new things emerging every day. Therefore, many daily reflections are worth recording. These reflections will be updated in real-time on my Twitter account and regularly compiled and published on my WeChat official account. Welcome to follow my Twitter account: Yue Xiaoyu (ID: @yuexiaoyu111).

If you believe the future belongs to AI and robots, then you must pay attention to this latest development!

Stablecoin issuer Circle and bot network OpenMind are collaborating to develop payment standards between bots.

When x402 first appeared, everyone thought that AI was the future, so x402, which could be used for payments between AIs, was very important.

After a period of calm, people have suddenly discovered that the x402 can now be used for payments between robots!

This article provides a systematic analysis of the latest developments regarding the x402 and shares some related observations:

To understand the significance of this, we must first clarify the relationship between AI, robots, and blockchain.

We can observe that two technology trees are being continuously unlocked recently:

One is AI, and the other is robots.

Many people are amazed at how intelligent AI is becoming; and robots, especially humanoid robots, are becoming more and more like humans.

So, what exactly is the relationship between AI, robotics, and blockchain?

Simply put, AI is the brain, robots are the body, and blockchain is the wallet and ID card.

If we want AI and robots to create new economic models, we will definitely need blockchain.

Because in our real world, the flow of funds and identity verification are based on "natural persons," for example, only natural persons can open a bank account.

So, what about AI agents or robots?

This is where blockchain-based identity and currency come in.

When AI agents and robots form a network, payment becomes particularly important in this economy where value needs to be exchanged between individuals.

The x402 payment protocol was developed to fill the gap in AI payments and robot payments.

Why are Circle and OpenMind doing this?

It's worth noting that the x402 payment protocol was initially promoted by Coinbase, which wanted to seize the cutting-edge field of AI payments.

However, when it comes to getting into the huge robotics economy, Circle and OpenMind are unavoidable.

Circle is the issuer of the largest compliant stablecoin USDC, while OpenMind is a leader in decentralized bot projects.

Circle controls the settlement layer of stablecoin payment networks, while OpenMind controls the intelligent execution layer of robots.

Circle has minted over 77.2 billion USDC, making it the second-largest stablecoin, but it is primarily limited to DeFi and human transactions.

OpenMind focuses on decentralized robot coordination, but lacks a reliable payment layer.

When the two are combined, Circle provides USDC + x402, while OpenMind contributes real-world applications, creating a closed loop.

What exactly is the x402 proposal from Circle and OpenMind?

This proposal is an improvement based on the x402 protocol.

The original goal of x402 was to enable small-amount, real-time payments between AIs, which places high demands on the performance of the blockchain. Currently, the throughput of the blockchain is still difficult to meet the needs of large-scale applications.

Circle wants to solve this problem using its own Gateway system, an off-chain payment gateway.

Therefore, the core of this proposal is how to integrate x402 with Circle Gateway to achieve efficient, secure, and cross-chain payments.

Please refer to this flowchart for the specific payment process:

(1) The buyer deposits money into the Gateway contract and generates an EIP-3009 signature (authorized transfer).

(2) After the buyer pays the seller via x402, the seller submits a signature to the Gateway (/settle call).

(3) Gateway off-chain verification: Check the buyer's balance, lock the funds, and immediately notify the seller that the funds have been received.

(4) Gateway accumulates signatures in batches and submits them on the chain periodically (batch settlement on the chain can save costs).

The whole process is actually very similar to Alipay's balance payment + batch reconciliation:

When you scan a QR code to pay, the money is deducted instantly (off-chain), but the bank's back-end records the transactions in batches every hour (on-chain).

Gateway is a unified balance account for users across multiple blockchains. Users can deposit balances into the Gateway contract and then pay as needed.

More importantly, Gateway can be embedded into the x402 v1 protocol (standard process) very transparently and easily, without changing the original structure, achieving plug-and-play functionality.

Robots in the OpenMind ecosystem can use USDC to make micro-payments between machines via x402 + Gateway.

To summarize

This proposal is a key step for Circle in moving the x402 from a theoretical standard to a practical tool.

Circle's collaboration with OpenMind is essentially about prioritizing its application in the robotics economy, enabling high-frequency, low-value payments via robots.

OpenMind was a very early adopter of the x402, and conducted its first humanoid robot payment in May 2025.

OpenMind is building an open and scalable ecosystem for machine collaboration, meaning that OpenMind is providing a completely new payment scenario for x402.

In payment services, the scenario comes first.

AI payment and robot payment are sure to be two very crucial payment scenarios in the future.

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