{"slug": "new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows", "title": "New Linux Foundation project aims to make payments native to AI workflows", "summary": "The Linux Foundation launched the x402 Foundation to oversee an open payment protocol that lets AI agents and applications pay for digital services over HTTP. The protocol, originally developed by Coinbase, embeds payments into web interactions and has support from 40 organizations including AWS, Google, Visa, and Mastercard. The initiative aims to fill a structural gap in machine-initiated transactions as AI agents increasingly participate in the digital economy.", "body_md": "The Linux Foundation has launched the x402 Foundation, a new industry body that will oversee the x402 payment protocol, an open standard designed to let AI agents, applications, and APIs pay for digital services over HTTP.\n\nThe x402 protocol, originally [developed](https://www.coinbase.com/en-in/developer-platform/discover/launches/x402) by Coinbase, embeds payment capabilities directly into web interactions, allowing AI agents, APIs, and applications to send and receive payments as part of standard HTTP requests rather than through separate checkout or billing systems, according to the Linux Foundation. The protocol supports multiple payment types, from traditional cards to stablecoins.\n\n“Under the neutral governance of the Linux Foundation, the x402 Foundation will allow developers, financial institutions, cloud providers, and other community members to collaboratively shape the protocol’s development,” the Linux Foundation said in a statement. “This open structure ensures that payments remain highly secure and adaptable, supporting multiple payment types, from traditional cards to stablecoins, without vendor lock-in.”\n\nForty organizations have joined the x402 Foundation since the Linux Foundation announced plans for the project in April, the statement added.\n\nMembers include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, American Express, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Fiserv, Ripple, and Shopify, representing cloud providers, payment companies, and financial services firms.\n\nThe announcement comes as software vendors add AI agents to business applications and developer platforms. Many of these agents are designed to call APIs, access third-party services, and complete tasks on behalf of users, creating demand for ways to pay for digital services without relying on separate payment systems.\n\nJim Zemlin, CEO of the Linux Foundation, said AI agents and automated systems are becoming active participants in the global economy but have lacked a native, secure way to transact.\n\n“By bringing together leading companies across finance, technology and more, we’re ensuring that the payment layer of the internet remains neutral, highly interoperable and ready to support digital commerce,” he said in the statement.\n\nThe protocol addresses what several founding members described as a structural gap in how the web handles machine-initiated transactions.\n\nThe x402 protocol is based on the HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code, which was originally defined for internet payments but has seen limited use.\n\nThe protocol is intended for transactions involving paid APIs, AI services, cloud computing resources, digital content, and other online services that require payment. The Linux Foundation said it also supports machine-to-machine payments between software applications and can work with multiple payment methods, including traditional payment cards and stablecoins.\n\nToday, developers typically monetize APIs and online services through subscriptions, prepaid credits, API keys, or account-based billing systems. The Linux Foundation said x402 is designed to standardize payment directly within HTTP interactions, allowing applications and AI agents to complete transactions without separate payment flows or custom billing integrations.\n\nUnder the Linux Foundation’s neutral governance model, the x402 Foundation will let developers, financial institutions, cloud providers, and other members collaboratively shape the protocol’s development.\n\n“This open structure ensures that payments remain highly secure and adaptable, supporting multiple payment types, from traditional cards to stablecoins, without vendor lock-in,” the statement added.\n\nTechnology vendors have introduced AI agents that can search for information, generate code, analyze documents, and interact with external applications. Many of those systems also rely on APIs and cloud-based services to complete tasks.\n\nAccording to the Linux Foundation, x402 is designed to provide a standard way for those applications and agents to pay for services during a transaction rather than relying on separate purchasing or billing processes. The foundation said developers can integrate payment capabilities into applications using open web standards across different payment providers and software platforms.\n\nThe launch comes as technology vendors begin adding payment capabilities to AI agent platforms.\n\nIn May, AWS introduced [Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/agents-that-transact-introducing-amazon-bedrock-agentcore-payments-built-with-coinbase-and-stripe/) in preview, enabling AI agents to autonomously pay for APIs, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, web content, and other agents. AWS had then said the service uses the x402 protocol to negotiate HTTP 402 payment requests while handling wallet authentication, spending controls, and transaction logging.\n\nThe Linux Foundation said the x402 Foundation will serve as the neutral home for the protocol as organizations contribute technical specifications, implementation guidance, and future extensions. The Linux Foundation and Coinbase did not respond to requests for additional comment by publication time.\n\n*The article originally appeared on InfoWorld.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows", "canonical_source": "https://www.cio.com/article/4198187/new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows-2.html", "published_at": "2026-07-17 09:03:47+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-17 09:12:08.412864+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-agents", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Linux Foundation", "x402 Foundation", "Coinbase", "Amazon Web Services", "Google", "Visa", "Mastercard", "Stripe"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/new-linux-foundation-project-aims-to-make-payments-native-to-ai-workflows.jsonld"}}