XRP Ledger Surpasses 13.4 Million AI Agent Payments Through x402
The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has recorded more than 13.4 million agentic payments through the x402 protocol, marking a sharp increase from the 1 million milestone it reached in July 2026. The growth highlights the expanding use of blockchain infrastructure for AI-driven commerce, where software agents can pay for digital services with minimal direct human involvement.
J. Ayo Akinyele, head of engineering at RippleX, shared the latest figures on X. After previously predicting that XRPL would exceed 10 million agentic transactions, Akinyele said the network's progress could put 100 million payments within reach sooner than many members of the XRP community anticipate.
On-chain data attributed to t54 showed a total of 13,417,943 agentic payments at the time of reporting. The network averaged 216,145 such transactions per day over the previous seven days, accounting for approximately 25% of all XRPL activity, according to Akinyele.
XRP Ledger Agentic Payments Accelerate
XRPL recorded its first 1 million agentic transactions on July 8, 2026. By July 22, the figure had climbed to 1.4 million, representing a reported increase of 127%. The subsequent rise beyond 13 million indicates that activity continued to expand after the network reached its initial milestone.
Akinyele previously pointed to the growing number of AI agents and improvements in blockchain infrastructure as factors supporting this growth. Agentic payments allow autonomous software systems to pay for services such as data access, software tools and computing resources as part of automated tasks.
The t54 data also identified 178 active agents operating across 166 merchants using x402 and 2,289 payable services. The figures provide a snapshot of the participants and services involved in the network's agentic payment activity.
The data separately recorded 6,979 transactions in XRP and 11,946 transactions in Ripple USD (RLUSD). These figures indicate that both assets are being used for payments within the ecosystem, although the source does not specify the value transferred in those transactions.
Ripple Encourages Developers to Build AI Payment Applications
Akinyele has encouraged developers to build applications around the growing demand generated by AI agents. These systems may require access to application programming interfaces (APIs), data and computing resources, creating opportunities for products that can automatically authorize and complete payments for digital services.
He highlighted XRPL's low transaction fees, fast settlement and expanding range of AI development tools as potential advantages for developers. Such features can support applications in which software agents pay for individual services without requiring a person to manually process every transaction.
Ripple introduced the XRPL AI Starter Kit in June 2026 to support developers building agentic payment solutions. The kit provides tools, documentation and integrations, with support for the x402 protocol and payments using XRP and RLUSD.
These integrations are designed to let AI agents pay for services including API calls, model inference and computing resources. The initiative forms part of Ripple's efforts to make XRPL more accessible to developers working on automated payment applications.
How the x402 Protocol Enables Automated Payments
The x402 protocol is an open, internet-native payment standard built around HTTP, the protocol used to exchange information between web clients and servers. It allows online services to request payments through existing internet infrastructure, supporting automated transactions between AI agents and service providers.
Under this model, agents can pay for resources such as data, software tools and computing capacity as needed during their operations. The approach is intended to make payments part of automated digital interactions rather than requiring separate manual steps for each service.
Coinbase originally developed x402. Governance of the standard is now overseen by the x402 Foundation, which is hosted by the Linux Foundation. Ripple has joined the foundation as a Premier Member, reflecting its participation in the development and adoption of the payment standard.
With agentic payments accounting for a reported quarter of XRPL activity and the cumulative total exceeding 13.4 million, the network is seeing increased use of infrastructure designed for automated digital commerce. Whether the total reaches 100 million will depend on how adoption develops from its current level.
Source: thecryptobasic
Writer: Marcus RenfieldCrypto Market Analyst & Onchain WriterMarcus Renfield covers cryptocurrency markets with a focus on onchain data, Bitcoin price action, and emerging market narratives. His writing examines how capital flows, network activity, and broader market structure influence short- and medium-term trends.He aims to provide clear, data-informed analysis for readers seeking a deeper understanding of crypto market dynamics.