{
  "id": 12173642,
  "title": "\"paymentPayload is invalid\": one dash broke a payment",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/paymentpayload-is-invalid-one-dash-broke-a-payment",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-05T15:00:43.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/georgi_kalchev_85d01f7368/paymentpayload-is-invalid-one-dash-broke-a-payment-2d2j"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In a recent incident, a single em dash in a payment header caused a payment to fail on the Base main network, marking the first real x402 purchase failure on the network. The error occurred due to a schema mismatch, with the paymentPayload being deemed invalid by the facilitator. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the server was decoding the payment header using a bare atob call, which was sensitive to the presence of the em dash. The issue was resolved by correcting the server's decoding process, ensuring that the payment could be successfully processed. The full report detailing the incident can be found at AISkills402.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}