Block wires Bitcoin Lightning into x402 as AI agent payments gather industry backing

Block has become the latest major payments company to commit to x402, an open standard that lets AI agents pay web services on their own for API access, data and other digital services. Alongside joining the x402 Foundation, the company has contributed Bitcoin Lightning support to the protocol, giving autonomous software a way to settle payments in bitcoin.

The company argues that the Lightning Network — the layer built on top of Bitcoin that processes small, rapid payments off-chain — fits the pattern of transactions agentic commerce is expected to generate: many of them, each worth very little.

"Bringing Lightning to x402 is a concrete step toward making Bitcoin everyday money for people and the agents acting on their behalf, and we're excited to help the industry build on it," said Steve Lee, who leads Spiral, Block's Bitcoin development initiative.

Block's membership places it alongside a growing roster of technology and crypto firms. Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have all backed the foundation, as have Coinbase and the Solana Foundation on the crypto side. The body was set up in April under the governance of the Linux Foundation, which hosts a range of collaborative open-source projects.

For context: x402 exists to solve a practical bottleneck. AI systems can already browse, negotiate and transact, but most payment rails require a human cardholder in the loop. A shared open protocol lets an agent request a service and pay for it in a single machine-readable flow, without pre-established accounts.

The x402 work also extends Block's earlier involvement in the Universal Commerce Protocol, a parallel effort aimed at opening AI-driven commerce to small businesses, the company said in its announcement.