Block Joins x402 Foundation to Drive Agentic Commerce Standards

Block Financial Platform has joined the x402 Foundation to advance open, agentic commerce standards, according to a Sept. 24 blog post by Steve Reis, head of product at Block. As a member of the open standard for agentic payments, Block will contribute its expertise in payments and consumer products to the Foundation's working groups, continue supporting Bitcoin Lightning with x402, and develop open agentic commerce tools.

This move is part of Block's ongoing efforts in open agentic commerce, which have included contributions like its open-source AI agent "goose," the launch of the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF), and participation in the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). Reis explained that the x402 Foundation provides a neutral, community-governed payment standard that enables developers to build products without single company control, fostering new use cases while reducing costs for all participants.

For Block and its customers, this collaboration means expanded access to new buyers and agents through open, standard payment rails; seamless agent-to-customer transactions; and the integration of bitcoin as a medium of exchange for high-volume, low-value payments generated by the agentic economy. Erik Reppel, creator of the x402 protocol and a Technical Steering Committee member, praised Block's contribution, stating that bringing Bitcoin Lightning to the protocol enhances the open standard's capabilities for everyone involved in agentic commerce.

The x402 protocol, designed for agentic payments, was first introduced by Coinbase in May 2025, utilizing the HTTP "402 Payment Required" status code to integrate stablecoin payments into web interactions. In April, Coinbase and the Linux Foundation announced the transition of the x402 protocol to the Linux Foundation, which subsequently launched the x402 Foundation in July as an open-governance entity comprising 40 organizations.