Kite AI and the x402 Protocol Drive a $30 Trillion Self-Governing AI Economy by 2030

Kite AI, an artificial intelligence payment public chain, has received a strategic investment from

Ventures, representing a significant milestone in its efforts to promote widespread use of the x402 intelligent agent payment protocol, according to a . This round of funding comes after Kite previously secured $33 million in a round led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. The latest investment will help speed up the development of Kite’s AI-powered smart agent payment system and strengthen its partnership with Coinbase to further drive adoption of the x402 protocol. As a Layer 1 blockchain, Kite was built with Coinbase’s x402 standard at its core, allowing AI agents to independently process, receive, and reconcile payments through standardized, intent-driven commands.

By incorporating Coinbase’s X402 Agent Payment Standard, Kite AI is positioned as a key infrastructure layer for the growing agentic economy. Utilizing X402-compatible payment tools, Kite empowers AI agents to perform machine-to-machine payments with exceptional speed and security. This breakthrough bridges major interoperability gaps between decentralized finance (DeFi) and AI systems, providing businesses and developers with a unified platform to launch autonomous agents for automating workflows, facilitating payments across ecosystems, and enabling self-settling transfers, as highlighted by

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Since its debut in May 2025, Coinbase’s x402 protocol has experienced rapid expansion, with transaction volume increasing by more than 10,000% within a month. By October 2025, the protocol handled 932,440 transactions in a single week, fueled by its ability to deliver instant, trustless payments using stablecoins. The protocol’s reintroduction of the HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code enables both AI agents and people to transact directly online without intermediaries, cutting settlement times to mere seconds and reducing fees by 90% compared to conventional systems, according to a

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An

notes that Kite AI’s system is tailored for frequent, low-value transactions, which are essential for the agentic economy. The blockchain separates authentication from payment, enabling AI agents to handle micro-payments and subscriptions without embedding transaction data in JSON Web Tokens (JWTs). This approach supports streaming and automated payment processes, enhanced by session keys and multi-layered identification for robust security. Kite also supports broader agent standards such as Google’s AP2 and ERC-8004, strengthening its position as a universal platform for execution and settlement.

The x402 ecosystem has grown quickly, with developers introducing tokens and memecoins directly on the protocol. CoinGecko now lists x402 tokens as a separate category, with a combined market capitalization approaching $180 million. Projects like $PING, an AI agent monitoring token, have fueled both speculation and practical use, while infrastructure providers such as x402scan and thirdweb deliver tools to streamline development. This momentum highlights x402’s capacity to transform digital commerce, with industry analysts predicting $30 trillion in autonomous AI transactions by 2030.

Looking forward, the x402 roadmap features V2 upgrades aimed at boosting enterprise scalability and ensuring backward compatibility. Strategic partnerships with Cloudflare, Visa, and Google indicate the protocol’s evolution from a pilot project to an industry benchmark. Kite AI’s contribution is vital, offering a robust, trustless base for the AI-driven economy. With support from Coinbase Ventures and the swift uptake of x402, the foundation is laid for a new generation of autonomous, blockchain-based financial transactions, as discussed in the aforementioned ChainCatcher analysis.