The company adds Lightning support to the open protocol for AI agents
Block has joined the x402 Foundation and added support for Bitcoin Lightning payments to the x402 protocol. The open standard allows AI agents and web services to autonomously pay for access to APIs, data and digital services.
Block said Lightning is suited to the high-volume payments expected in agent-led commerce. Steve Lee, head of Block’s Bitcoin Spiral initiative, said the integration aims to make Bitcoin usable for everyday payments by people and agents acting on their behalf.
The x402 Foundation, launched in April under the Linux Foundation, is also backed by Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Coinbase and Solana Foundation. According to the company’s announcement, Block is also participating in the Universal Commerce Protocol, an initiative for AI-led commerce among small businesses.
