This 3-part series explores the revival of HTTP 402 "Payment Required" as a potential native web payment primitive for the emerging agentic economy. It begins with the modern dilemma (AI agents needing frictionless, machine-to-machine payments), reveals x402 as the forgotten hero from 1999, traces its long dormancy, covers the 2025 rediscovery (Lightning Network revival, early experiments), and ends with a balanced 2026–2028 outlook (promise for energy data markets & tokenized assets vs. regulatory/volatility hurdles). The tone is practical and grounded, with your site’s convergence lens (grid agents paying for signals, RWA micropayments) woven throughout. It ends with a teaser for future site experiments.
The agentic future promises AI systems trading value autonomously—but how do they pay each other? Enter x402: a long-forgotten HTTP status code that could become the native payment layer for the web's next era.
After decades of dormancy, HTTP 402 is being revived by crypto-native builders. From Lightning Network integration to stablecoin rails, the pieces are finally falling into place for machine-native payments.
What happens when x402 goes mainstream? We map the scenarios—from energy grid agents paying for data feeds to AI researchers licensing models per-query. The convergence of payments and protocols is just beginning.
