Visa, Stripe, Amex join Linux Foundation AI payments protocol

On Tuesday, the Linux Foundation announced the formal launch of the x402 Foundation, a nonprofit consortium dedicated to building an open-source protocol for AI-driven payments. The membership roster includes American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Stripe, Fiserv, Circle Internet Group, Google, and Amazon Web Services, as well as international players Adyen (a Dutch processor) and Shopify (a Canadian e-commerce company). The Linux Foundation, known for stewarding major open-source projects, is leading the initiative.

The x402 protocol was originally created at Coinbase to address a concrete problem in the emerging AI economy. As Lincoln Murr, head of AI product at Coinbase, explained in the press release: "AI agents had no native, interoperable way to pay for the things they needed to do." The protocol enables agents powered by artificial intelligence, APIs, and software applications to execute payments securely and without friction. Under the Linux Foundation's governance, the protocol will be developed by a consortium of developers, financial institutions, cloud providers, and other stakeholders. The open-source design is intended to allow participating payments providers to transact securely, support multiple forms of payment, and adapt over time without becoming dependent on any single vendor.

Luke Gebb, executive vice president of global innovation at American Express, said in the release: "With the x402 Foundation now formally launched, American Express is pleased to continue supporting open, interoperable standards for internet-native payments." The announcement follows the Linux Foundation's April declaration of intent to establish the foundation, during which the roster has expanded to dozens of high-profile members. Notably, this payments standardization effort is being undertaken in parallel with another major industry collaboration: on June 30, more than 140 companies—including Visa, Stripe, American Express, Coinbase, and Klarna Group—announced they were creating Open USD, a stablecoin whose reserve earnings are expected to be shared among participating organizations. Together, these initiatives reflect a broader restructuring of digital payments infrastructure to accommodate AI-driven commerce at scale.

The launch of the x402 Foundation represents a coordinated effort by the payments industry to standardize AI-driven commerce. The protocol originated at Coinbase as a solution to a specific technical gap: as AI agents began conducting autonomous transactions, they lacked a standardized, interoperable payment mechanism. By moving the protocol from Coinbase to the Linux Foundation—a neutral, open-source governance body—the founding members (including competing giants like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express) signal an industry-wide recognition that this infrastructure must be built as a common good rather than a proprietary solution. The Foundation's emphasis on avoiding vendor lock-in and supporting multiple payment forms suggests the members view this as a long-term standard that will need to evolve as AI and payments technologies develop.

This move occurs alongside other large-scale payment collaborations. In late June, the same set of players—Visa, Stripe, American Express, Coinbase, and others—announced Open USD, a stablecoin initiative in which reserve earnings are shared among participants. The parallel timing and overlapping membership suggest the payments industry is undertaking a broader reinvention of how digital transactions work in an AI-driven world, with both the protocol layer (x402) and the currency layer (Open USD) being redesigned simultaneously.

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