x402: The Key to Internet Money, Micropayments & The AI Agent Economy | Sam Ragsdale

Micropayments were always meant to be part of the internet, but the technology never existed to make them work. Until now. David sits down with Sam Ragsdale, CEO of Merit Systems, to unpack x402, a new protocol reviving the long-dormant “Payment Required” status code to enable crypto-powered microtransactions across the web. They explore how x402 could transform how machines, AI agents, and humans pay for internet resources, reshape online business models beyond ads, and unlock a new economy of autonomous agents and programmable commerce. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:10 What is x402? 6:19 Internet Micropayments 9:45 x402 Encryption 12:10 x402 Inception 15:20 How x402 Transactions Work 27:02 x402 Experiments 39:46 Paywalls 43:53 A New Internet? 47:12 Call to Builders 49:21 Merit Systems 53:56 Resources 55:36 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Sam Ragsdale https://x.com/samrags_ Merit Systems https://www.merit.systems/ x402scan https://www.x402scan.com/ Coinbase x402 https://www.coinbase.com/en-pt/developer-platform/products/x402 Stratechery - The Agentic Web and Original Sin https://stratechery.com/2025/the-agentic-web-and-original-sin/ ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠