x402 V2 Release - What are the Key Highlights? 1. Improved Performance: The x402 V2 release brings significant performance enhancements, allowing for faster transaction processing and validation. 2. Enhanced Security: With new security featur...

By: blockbeats|2025/12/12 06:30:01

Original Article Title: "What are the Key Features of x402 V2? Unified Payment Interface, Identity Authentication…"

Original Article Author: KarenZ, Foresight News

When the x402 protocol, led by Coinbase, was launched in May this year, the core idea was surprisingly simple: to reactivate the long-unused HTTP 402 status code, allowing payment logic to be directly embedded in network requests.

Although the x402-related token performance experienced a short-lived surge, in the past 6 months, x402 has processed over one billion payments, covering diverse scenarios such as API fee calls, AI agent on-demand resource purchase, and more.

While the architecture of V1 was concise, in practical applications, it exposed some limitations. Especially in terms of cross-chain support, scalability, identity authentication, duplicate payments, etc., the original design could not meet the increasingly complex payment needs.

Today, x402 has ushered in the V2 version upgrade. This update not only optimized the protocol itself but also underwent deep reconstruction around the issues discovered in actual usage.

What are the Key Highlights of x402?

Wallet Identity Access and "Reusable Sessions": Bid Farewell to Duplicate Payments

This is the most user and agent experience-enhancing transformation in V2. In V1, each API call might require a complete payment process, which appeared to be high-latency and costly in high-frequency scenarios (such as large language model LLM inference, multi-step agent tasks).

x402 V2 introduces support for wallet identity (such as Sign-In-With-X based on CAIP-122). Once the client validates identity through the wallet and completes the initial payment, the protocol allows for the creation of reusable sessions. This means that subsequent accesses to the same resource can directly skip the full on-chain payment process.

This can significantly reduce transaction latency, decrease round trips and on-chain costs, making x402 truly suitable for high-frequency workloads, providing a subscription-like or session-based access model for human users and autonomous agents.

Unified Payment Interface: Integration of Cross-Chain and Traditional Finance

x402 V2 has created a one-stop payment format, regardless of which chain an asset is on, or even if it is on-chain.

· Default Multi-Chain Support: The protocol natively supports stablecoins and tokens on Base, Solana, and other Layer 2 solutions, eliminating the need for developers to customize logic.

· Traditional Payment Compatibility: Through Facilitators, V2 can seamlessly integrate with traditional payment rails such as ACH, SEPA, or credit card networks.

· Dynamic payTo Routing: Enables payment routing at the request level, such as directing funds to a specific address, role, or callback logic. This feature is suitable for complex markets, multi-tenant APIs, and dynamic pricing based on input content.

Plugin Architecture and Developer-Friendly Extensibility

x402 V2 has modularized the protocol, providing clear separation between the protocol specification, SDK implementations, and Facilitators.

· Stable and Scalable: Adding a new chain or payment behavior can be done without modifying the core specification or reference SDK.

· Plugin-Driven SDK: Developers can register new chains, assets, and payment schemes like installing plugins without altering the SDK's internal code.

· Simplified Configuration: V2 significantly streamlines developers' configuration process while natively supporting Multi-Facilitator. The SDK will automatically select the best matching options based on business preferences (e.g., "Prefer Solana," "Avoid Mainnet," "USDC only").

Automatic Discovery Mechanism: Keeping Service Information Synchronized

x402 V2 introduces a "Discovery" extension, allowing services enabled by x402 to expose structured metadata for Facilitators to fetch.

· Zero-Touch Synchronization: Service pricing, routing, and metadata can autonomously update, enabling Facilitators to dynamically index available endpoints without manual updates or hardcoded directories.

· Enhanced Autonomy: Sellers only need to publish their API once, and the entire ecosystem stays in sync, laying the foundation for a more autonomous internet economy.

Different Participant Perspectives

The upgrade to x402 V2 has shifted payments from a technological friction point to an economic layer, essentially making the flow of value on the internet smoother and more intelligent. For different participants, this means addressing their respective pain points.

For end users, the core value of x402 V2 lies in seamless payments and efficiency improvements, making paid access to services more akin to logging in and using them, significantly reducing the cost and latency of repeat visits. While an initial visit requires a payment transaction, subsequent reuse of services within the same session or time period (such as multiple AI calls or accessing paid content) does not require on-chain payment if the purchased resources are already available, resulting in faster speed and lower costs. It feels like a form of "micro-subscription." Additionally, payment methods are more diverse and convenient.

Furthermore, as Facilitators can automatically retrieve the latest pricing and service information, ensuring that users see accurate and available prices and services, it eliminates the issue of outdated information. For users, it also becomes easier to discover and use services.

For developers and service providers, V2 addresses the pain points of V1 in terms of architecture and scalability, bringing greater flexibility and a lower code maintenance burden. For example, it transitions payment logic from "hardcoded" to "configurable and pluggable"; dynamic pricing based on API request inputs (such as data processing volume, model size) can be achieved, enabling the implementation of complex business models with ease; as the payment wall logic is extracted into a separate, customizable modular package, developers can more conveniently integrate with different payment backends and rapidly build and iterate on their paid services. Moreover, by simply declaring business preferences, the SDK will automatically choose the best payment path and coordinator. This reduces a significant amount of "glue code," allowing developers to focus on business logic.

For AI agents, the improvements in V2 are revolutionary, transforming AI from a mere "executor" into an "economic entity" capable of making autonomous decisions. An AI agent can be equipped with a wallet containing a budget. When it needs to call an API to perform a task or requires more powerful computing resources to run a model, it can "decide" and complete payments on its own, dynamically searching for the most cost-effective resources on the network.

Summary

The release of x402 V2 marks the transition of x402 from a "pay-per-use" tool to a flexible, universal economic layer. For users, payments become nearly invisible, enhancing the overall experience. For developers, the architecture is more flexible, enabling the rapid construction and iteration of complex business models. AI agents can also achieve low-latency, high-frequency autonomous consumption, unlocking advanced autonomous systems.

Through enhancing compatibility, simplifying the development process, and enabling innovative identity and payment models, x402 aims to become the infrastructure for future Internet payments. However, any technology, while bringing innovation, will inevitably face challenges and inherent shortcomings. While x402 V2 paints a rosy picture, realizing it requires overcoming many real-world obstacles, such as ecosystem adoption and maturity, risks of "modules," difficulties in refund and dispute resolution, regulatory uncertainties, and more.

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Coinbase Joins Prediction Market, AAVE Governance Dispute - What's the Overseas Crypto Community Talking About Today?

Publication Date: December 23, 2025Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has shown strong momentum across multiple dimensions. The mainstream discussion has focused on Coinbase's official entry into the prediction market through the acquisition of The Clearing Company, as well as the intense controversy within the AAVE community regarding token incentives and governance rights.

In terms of ecosystem development, Solana has introduced the innovative Kora fee layer aimed at reducing user transaction costs; meanwhile, the Perp DEX competition has intensified, with the showdown between Hyperliquid and Lighter sparking widespread community discussion on the future of decentralized derivatives.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Coinbase Acquires The Clearing Company, Officially Entering Prediction Market

This week, Coinbase announced the acquisition of The Clearing Company, marking another significant move to deepen its presence in this field after last week's announcement of launching a prediction market on its platform.

The Clearing Company's founder, Toni Gemayel, and the team will join Coinbase to jointly drive the development of the prediction market business.

Coinbase's Product Lead, Shan Aggarwal, stated that the growth of the prediction market is still in its early stages and predicts that 2026 will be the breakout year for this field.

The community has reacted positively to this, generally believing that Coinbase's entry will bring significant traffic and compliance advantages to the prediction market. However, this has also sparked discussions about the industry's competitive landscape.

Jai Bhavnani, Founder of Rivalry, commented that for startups, if their product model proves to be successful, industry giants like Coinbase have ample reason to replicate it.

This serves as a reminder to all entrepreneurs in the crypto space that they must build significant moats to withstand competition pressure from these giants.

2. Kalshi Launches Kalshi Research and Integrates BSC Network

Regulated prediction market platform Kalshi launched its research arm, Kalshi Research, this week, aimed at opening its internal data to the academic community and researchers to facilitate exploration of prediction market-related topics.

Its inaugural research report highlights Kalshi's outperformance in predicting inflation compared to Wall Street's traditional models. Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara commented that the power of prediction markets lies in the valuable data they generate, and it is now time to better utilize this data.

Meanwhile, Kalshi announced its support for the BNB Chain (BSC), allowing users to deposit and withdraw BNB and USDT via the BSC network.

This move is seen as a significant step for Kalshi to open its platform to a broader crypto user base, aiming to unlock access to the world's largest prediction market. Furthermore, Kalshi also revealed plans to host the first Prediction Market Summit in 2026 to further drive industry engagement and development.

3. AAVE Token Incentive Controversy Persists as Founders and Whales Increase Holdings Against the Market Trend

The AAVE community recently engaged in heated debates around an Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP) titled "AAVE Tokenomics Alignment Phase One - Ownership Governance," aiming to transfer ownership and control of the Aave brand from Aave Labs to Aave DAO.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov publicly stated his intention to vote against the proposal, believing it oversimplifies the complex legal and operational structure, potentially slowing down the development process of core products like Aave V4.

The community's reaction was polarized. Some criticized Stani for adopting a "double standard" in governance and questioned whether his team had siphoned off protocol revenue, while others supported his cautious stance, arguing that significant governance changes require more thorough discussion.

This controversy highlights the tension between the ideal of DAO governance in DeFi projects and the actual power held by core development teams.

Despite governance disputes putting pressure on the AAVE token price, on-chain data shows that Stani Kulechov himself has purchased millions of dollars' worth of AAVE in the past few hours.

Simultaneously, a whale address, 0xDDC4, which had been quiet for 6 months, once again spent 500 ETH (approximately $1.53 million) to purchase 9,629 AAVE tokens. Data indicates that this whale has accumulated nearly 40,000 AAVE over the past year but is currently in an unrealized loss position.

The founder and whale's increased holdings during market volatility were interpreted by some investors as a confidence signal in AAVE's long-term value.

4. Top Articles: DeFi Curators and Ethereum Annual Summary

In this week's top article, Morpho Labs' "Curator Explained" detailed the role of "curators" in DeFi.

The article likened curators to asset managers in traditional finance, who design, deploy, and manage on-chain vaults, providing users with a one-click diversified investment portfolio.

Unlike traditional fund managers, DeFi curators execute strategies automatically through non-custodial smart contracts, allowing users to maintain full control of their assets. The article offered a new perspective on the specialization and risk management in the DeFi space.

Another widely circulated article, "Ethereum 2025: From Experiment to Global Infrastructure," provided a comprehensive summary of Ethereum's development over the past year. The article noted that 2025 is a crucial year for Ethereum's transition from an experimental project to global financial infrastructure. Through the Pectra and Fusaka hard forks, Ethereum achieved significant reductions in account abstraction and transaction costs.

Furthermore, the SEC's clarification of Ethereum's "non-securities" nature and the launch of tokenized funds on the Ethereum mainnet by traditional financial giants like JPMorgan marked Ethereum's gaining recognition from mainstream institutions. The article suggested that whether it is the continued growth of DeFi, the thriving L2 ecosystem, or the integration with the AI field, Ethereum's vision as the "world computer" is gradually becoming a reality.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Solana: Launches Kora Fee Layer and propAMM Data Research

The Solana Foundation engineering team released a fee layer solution called Kora this week.

Kora is a fee relayer and signatory node designed to provide the Solana ecosystem with a more flexible transaction fee payment method. Through Kora, users will be able to achieve gas-free transactions or choose to pay network fees using any stablecoin or SPL token. This innovation is seen as an important step in lowering the barrier of entry for new users and improving Solana network's availability.

Additionally, a deep research report on propAMM (proactive market maker) sparked community interest. The report's data analysis of propAMMs on Solana like HumidiFi indicated that Solana has achieved, or even surpassed, the level of transaction execution quality in traditional finance (TradFi) markets.

For example, on the SOL-USDC trading pair, HumidiFi is able to provide a highly competitive spread for large trades (0.4-1.6 bps), which is already better than the trading slippage of some mid-cap stocks in traditional markets.

Research suggests that propAMM is making the vision of the "Internet Capital Market" a reality, with Solana emerging as the prime venue for all of this to happen.

2. Perp DEX: Hyperliquid vs. Lighter Competition Intensifies

The competition in the perpetual contract DEX (Perp DEX) space is becoming increasingly heated.

In its latest official article, Hyperliquid has positioned its emerging competitor, Lighter, alongside centralized exchanges like Binance, referring to it as a platform utilizing a centralized sequencer. Hyperliquid emphasizes its transparency advantage of being "fully on-chain, operated by a validator network, and with no hidden state."

The community widely interprets this as Hyperliquid declaring "war" on Lighter. The technical differences between the two platforms have also become a focal point of discussion: Hyperliquid focuses on ultimate on-chain transparency, while Lighter emphasizes achieving "verifiable execution" through zero-knowledge proofs to provide users with a Central Limit Order Book (CLOB)-like trading experience.

This battle over the future direction of decentralized derivatives exchanges is expected to peak in 2026.

Meanwhile, discussions about Lighter's trading fees have surfaced. Some users have pointed out that Lighter charged as much as 81 basis points (0.81%) for a $2 million USD/JPY forex trade, far exceeding the near-zero spreads of traditional forex brokers.

Some argue that Lighter does not follow a B-book model that bets against market makers, instead anchoring its prices to the TradFi market, and the high fees may be related to the current liquidity or market maker balance incentives. Providing a more competitive spread for real-world assets (RWA) in the highly volatile crypto market is a key issue Lighter will need to address in the future.

The Secret Centralization Landscape of Stablecoin Payments: 85% of Transaction Volume Controlled by Top 1000 Wallets

Stablecoin payments have reached nearly half of total transaction volume, but are highly concentrated in a few institutional wallets: the top 1000 addresses contributed to about 85% of the transfer volume. While P2P transactions are numerous, their share of the total amount is significantly low.

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