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- Block has added Bitcoin Lightning support to x402, providing AI agents and web services another settlement option.
- The Jack Dorsey-led company has also joined the x402 Foundation, which operates under the Linux Foundation.
- Block has not disclosed merchant deployments, transaction volume, or AI-agent usage specifically tied to the new Lightning support.
Block has added Bitcoin Lightning support to x402, giving AI agents and web services another settlement option through the open internet-payment standard.
The Jack Dorsey-led company has also joined the x402 Foundation, which operates under the Linux Foundation. Block said Lightning is suited to the low-cost, high-volume payments expected when software agents autonomously pay for APIs, data, and other digital services.
Lightning Adds Bitcoin Payments to x402 Exact Scheme
x402 uses the web’s HTTP 402 “Payment Required” mechanism to let a server tell software that payment is required before a resource can be accessed. An AI agent can request an API or service, receive machine-readable payment requirements, complete the payment and retry the request with proof of settlement.
The process allows software to transact programmatically without requiring a human to enter card details for each request. A Sept. 23 commit to the x402 repository added support for “exact Lightning on lnbtc.” The exact scheme is used when a specified amount must be transferred for an individual request.
Block Targets High-Frequency Payments Between Software Agents
Bitcoin’s Lightning Network settles payments through off-chain channels, allowing repeated small transfers without recording every individual payment directly in a Bitcoin block.
Block said that structure makes Lightning suited to agentic commerce, where software could make frequent payments for data, compute resources and online services. The company has not disclosed merchant deployments, transaction volume or AI-agent usage specifically tied to the new Lightning support.
As of Sept. 25, x402’s website reported 75.41 million transactions and $24.24 million in payment volume over the previous 30 days. Those figures cover the protocol as a whole rather than Lightning transactions specifically.
Block Joins x402 Foundation as Protocol Expands Payment Options
Coinbase created x402 before contributing the protocol to the Linux Foundation in April 2026. The x402 Foundation became operational under formal open governance in July, with the standard designed to support multiple payment networks and payment types.
Block plans to contribute to Lightning development within x402 and participate in the foundation as the protocol expands.
The company has not announced x402 Lightning integrations for Cash App, Square or Bitkey. The immediate change is at the protocol level, giving developers a Bitcoin Lightning settlement option when building AI agents and internet services capable of paying automatically.
