The 30-year-old HTTP status code, how to activate the micro-payment market
In 1997, the HTTP protocol reserved status code 402 — "Payment Required". The designers at the time may not have expected that this nearly three-decade idle feature would be reactivated in the AI era.
Until recently, with the maturity of stablecoins, reduced costs through Layer2, and real micro-payment demands brought by AI Agents, this "dormant button" finally found its use. A leading exchange has launched the x402 protocol: when users or AI access paid content, they can complete on-chain payments directly without opening an account or redirecting.
It sounds simple, but behind it is a complete ecosystem being rebuilt — from protocol standards and infrastructure to the application layer, each part is shaping the future of payment logic.
So, besides the rampant Meme coins, what projects in this ecosystem are truly capable of taking off?