x402 becomes a public protocol, Pectra lands
Coinbase published x402 on 6 May 2025, the same week Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade hit mainnet. Cheap L2 fees were the economic precondition the launch note kept citing.
2025-05
What happened
Coinbase published x402 on 6 May 2025, the same week Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade hit mainnet. Cheap L2 fees were the economic precondition the launch note kept citing.
Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade lands on mainnet
L1/L2 fee and account features are plumbing for micropayments.
x402.org quickstart is the buyer/seller on-ramp
The first hour of a new seller still starts at docs, not at a marketplace ranking.
x402.org is the public protocol home
Docs host and test facilitator are different roles. Mainnet facilitation is called out separately.
Coinbase introduces x402: stablecoin payments over HTTP 402
An open protocol that turns Payment Required into a machine-payable API primitive.
Cheap L2 fees are the economic precondition x402 keeps citing
Coinbase’s x402 launch note argued that cent-level L2 fees revive HTTP micropayments.