Cardano joins the Solana and XRP ledger lines to compete for AI agent payment track

Cardano has access to the x402 official software suite, where developers can now obtain the necessary code for an application or AI agent using either ADA or token , which are distributed over a network of Cardano , to pay for online services.

x402 transforms the long-dormant 402 Payment Required response on internet into a payment process that is directly embedded in network requests. The service provider returns price and payment instructions, the agent completes payment signatures, transaction validation can be obtained after passing the required data or computing power .

This means that an AI agent who is writing a report can purchase individual dataset s on demand, without having to manually type in account opening information or buy monthly subscriptions.

x402 was introduced by Coinbase in 2025, and subsequently donated to an institution supported by the Linux Foundation, whose members include Visa, MasterCard, Stripe, Google and Amazon Web Services services. The Solana , XRP ledgers as well as several compatible Ethereum networks already support this standard.

The Cardano Foundation's engineers, starting with the technical specification received in June, built a client for initiating payment requests on server and software together with an API facilitator that is responsible for validating and submitting transactions.