XRPL Gets x402 Facilitator for AI Agent Payments: Bullish for XRP

A new x402 facilitator on the XRP Ledger enables AI agents to pay for API calls and services directly with XRP or RLUSD, signaling broader machine-native commerce growth.

Rich by Coin

2026-02-21

t54.ai has launched an x402 “facilitator” on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a payments relay that lets AI agents pay for API calls and digital services in-line with normal HTTP requests using XRP or RLUSD. The pitch is simple: turn pay-per-use into a native part of the web stack, with no accounts, no API keys, and settlement that happens on-chain. The XRPL integration centers on x402, an open payments standard built around the HTTP 402 Payment Required code. In an x402 flow, a client requests a resource, the server replies with a 402 and machine-readable payment requirements, and the client retries the request with proof of payment.

Coinbase’s x402 documentation frames the goal as programmatic access without accounts, so both humans and autonomous agents can pay for usage-based services directly over HTTP. On X, t54.ai described the facilitator as now live on the XRPL, adding that agents can pay with XRP and RLUSD—no API keys, no accounts, and frictionless payments. Another post positioned x402 as the open standard for machine-native payments, where the server responds with HTTP 402 “Payment Required” and the agent pays immediately, with the facilitator handling verification and settlement on-chain. Popular XRP community account BankXRP summarized the rollout, describing frictionless micropayments and no custody arrangements.

The XRPL x402 facilitator processes payments via payer-signed presigned Payment transaction blobs and supports XRP plus IOU tokens including RLUSD (and USDC). Resource servers verify and settle by calling standard facilitator endpoints like verify and settle, mirroring the core x402 architecture where the facilitator is the chain-aware component that validates payment payloads and executes settlement. t54.ai also states the system is in production with BlockRunAI, a unified gateway that provides agents access to 30+ models; in that integration, agents pay per request via x402, and the resulting payment volume is now settling on XRPL, turning model inference and tool calls into metered on-chain commerce. As of press time, XRP traded at $1.4126.