When AI Agents Get Their Own Credit Card: Which Projects Will Lead the Next Wave?

The crypto market is in a lull, but beneath the surface, something fundamental is shifting. Two months after the initial x402 protocol introduction by Coinbase gained traction, developers just pushed a V2 update that most traders completely missed. If V1 was merely letting AI make payments, V2 is giving AI Agents their own credit card—complete with delayed settlement, multi-chain functionality, and, most critically, creditworthiness.

From Payments to Finance: What Changed in x402 V2

The original x402 protocol solved a basic problem: how can AI complete on-chain transactions through simple API calls without manual intervention? V1 accomplished this, but it was clunky. Every inference, every data call meant signing a transaction, paying gas, settling immediately. For high-frequency operations, this “pay-as-you-go” model was economically broken.

V2 fundamentally rethinks the payment model. The most important addition is the delayed settlement mechanism—what the documentation calls “work first, settle later.” In practical terms:

Service providers can now extend trust to AI Agents. Instead of atomic settlement per transaction, the system accumulates usage (1,000 inference calls, for example) and settles in batches. This isn’t just cost optimization; it’s financial innovation. Once “enjoy now, pay later” exists, AI Agents begin accumulating liabilities and creditworthiness. They’re transitioning from tools to economic entities.

Beyond this credit layer, V2 introduces two infrastructure-level shifts:

Multi-chain by default: V1 was essentially a Base chain experiment. V2 standardizes an HTTP header interaction protocol that works across Solana, Ethereum mainnet, and all L2s. Funds can flow seamlessly.

Crypto-fiat hybrid rails: Agents pay in USDC; service providers receive fiat through gateways like AWS or Google Cloud. This bridges the gap between on-chain experimentation and real-world procurement.

The leap is substantial: V1 was a toy, V2 is infrastructure attempting to be the Visa network of the AI economy.

The Three Layers Powering an AI Credit Card System

If x402 V2 is the backbone, three categories of projects form the nervous system:

Layer 1: Creditworthiness and Trust

The fundamental challenge: Why should a provider trust an anonymous AI Agent to pay next month?

Spectral ($SPEC) addresses this through on-chain credit scoring. Think FICO for Agents. In x402 V2, service providers can gate “postpaid” access: only Agents with qualifying MACRO scores get extended credit. Spectral’s parallel project, Inferchain, verifies Agent performance—directly feeding the settlement logic.

Bond Credit takes a different angle. For newly launched Agents lacking transaction history, Bond provides credit guarantees using TEE-monitored performance data. It’s a fulfillment mechanism: Bond vouches for the Agent, enabling delayed payment. The project remains early-stage, but it’s one of the few explicitly building “credit for Agents.”

CARV ($CARV) solves identity portability. x402 V2 is multi-chain, which means one Agent might operate on Solana, Ethereum, and Arbitrum simultaneously. CARV’s unified identity layer ensures reputation travels across chains. The team has already conducted payment scenario testing with the new protocol.

Layer 2: Verification and Execution

Once payment is delayed, verification becomes critical. The ERC-8004 standard handles “did the service actually execute?” before settlement triggers.

Giza ($GIZA) acts as the inspector layer using zero-knowledge machine learning (ZKML). Before paying inference fees via x402, Giza proves the model ran correctly. Simultaneously, Giza’s own Agent applications (like ARMA) operate directly on these payment rails—it’s both technology and application.

Akash Network ($AKT) provides decentralized computing power. x402 V2’s session-based settlement drastically lowers friction for “per-second” billing. AI can procure compute via USDC with minimal overhead. The connection is passive but significant.

Layer 3: Agent Issuance and Strategy Automation

Who builds these Agents? Who orchestrates their behavior?

Virtuals Protocol ($VIRTUAL) is the leading Agent issuance platform. x402 V2 gives Virtuals-based Agents a “cross-chain passport”—enabling Agent portfolios to execute trades, participate in launches, and arbitrage across chains while payments consolidate through x402.

Brahma automates complex DeFi strategies and manages executor payments (Keepers). x402 V2 allows Brahma to unify gas fees, execution costs, and service provider payments into one settlement cycle. It’s a bridge to DeFAI—AI-assisted decentralized finance at scale.

The Real Narrative: Machine Economics

Strip away the technical complexity. What’s actually happening is more profound than a payment upgrade.

By introducing delayed settlement and multi-chain accounts, x402 V2 gives AI the concept of a balance sheet. When an Agent can “deliver service first, settle later,” it acquires liabilities. When it holds assets across chains, it owns equity. Assets plus liabilities means AI transitions from script to economic entity.

This is AgentFi—not AI as a tool, but AI as an independent economic participant.

The investment thesis shifts accordingly. For years, we bought AI exposure at the model layer—betting on which AI was smartest. Going forward, the financial layer matters more: which AI is wealthiest, most creditworthy, and best positioned within this AI credit system?

The projects that capture value first are the infrastructure picks-and-shovels: those issuing identity to Agents, providing credit ratings, and converting computing power into retail products. These narratives sound compelling, are difficult to disprove, and have forward-looking credibility.

x402 V2 is the starting signal. As market sentiment improves, watch the projects at these three layers—they’ll collect the first tolls, regardless of whether this becomes the next bull run or remains a bear-market underdog story.